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d'impreaaion  ou  d'illuatration  at  an  terminant  par 
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amprainta. 

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et  de  haut  en  baa,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
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iliustrent  le  mOthode. 


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THE  ONLY  TWO    RELIGIONS; 


AND 


OTHER  GOSPEL  PAPERS. 


BY 


H.  A.  IRONSIDE. 


NEW    YORK: 

LOIZVAUX  BROTHERS,  BIBLE  TRUTH  DEPOT 

63  FOURTH  AVENUE. 

TORONTO,     CANADA. 
HOME    FRIEND    OFFICE;    486    YONGE    STREET. 


Y\< 


f«RINTEO  AT 

THE   BIBLE   TRUTH    PRESS,    S3   FOURTH   AVEMUE, 

NEW    YORK. 


0  901244 


» 


PREFACE. 


IN  this  little  volume  the  word  religion  is  used  in 
its  popular,  not  its  distinctively  Biblical  sense. 
In  the  Scriptures  it  is  but  seldom  found,  and 
where  used  it  refers,  undoubtedly,  to  outward  ob- 
servances.  Paul  "profited  in  the  Jews'  religion." 
He  gave  himself  up  to  the  carrying  out  of  all  its 
legal  enactments.  James  contrasts  with  this  the 
••pure  religion  and  undefiled, "  which  is,  not  Chris- 
tianity itself,  but  the  outcome  of  it.  Alas,  how 
many  stumble  right  here— designating  a  system 
of  philanthropy  and  correct  living  as  Christianity 
itself ;  mistaking  the  result  for  the  cause  from  which 
it  springs;  denying  the  truth  of  God — unwittingly 
though  it  may  be. 

But,  as  generally  used,  the  word  religion  covers 
both  the  faith  and  the  practice  of  its  devotees — 
according  to  Webster,  ••a  system  of  faith  and  wor- 
ship ; "  and  it  is  in  this  sense  it  is  used  in  the  pres- 
ent collection  of  papers. 

The  first  article  is  introductory  to  all  the  others; 
which  throughout  are  designed  to  contrast  God's 
way  of  salvation  with  the  numberless  ways  of 
man's  devising— the  end  of  which  will  be  death, 
moral  and  spiritual. 

The  fact  that  they  were  written  as  separate  pa- 
pers, and  are  now  collected  into  a  volume  for  the 
first  time,  will  account  for  occasional  repetitions 
of  thought,  and  even  statement. 

If  they  lead  any  to  value  Christ  more,  and  hu- 
man religiousness  less,  they  will  have  fulfilled  the 
object  for  which  they  are  sent  forth. 

H.  A  I. 


\  ■ 


CONTENTS. 


The  Only  Two  Rkliuioms * 

A   HCBXKW'8  8EABCII   FOB   TICK  BUK)D  or  ATONKMKMT  11 

OOD'8  BBMKDY  :   VkIWUH  THAT  OK  THE  PKIKST  15 

Which  Thiek? 18 

Thb  Mobmon'8  Mistake;  ob,  What  is  the  Oospki.?  20 

The  Tbamp  who  became  a  Deacon 33 

Relioiok  Runs  IN  oi'B  Family,  Sir! 61 

The  Dyino  Oamhi.i  r 56 

MicAH's  Kkuoion ®* 

Concubbent  Blessinos '• 

Who  HATH  Bkwitchei)  You? 88 

The  Sceiptubal  Place  of  Good  Wobkh     ...  98 


THE  ONLY  TWO  REUGIONS. 


"Tbere  are  only  hoo  religions  in  the  world  : 
Tlie  TBUB  and  tlie  FALSK. 

All  phaaea  of  TaUe  religion  are  alike.     Tbey  all  aay  : 
*  Something  iu  my  hand  I  bring,' 
The  only  difference  between  tbem  being  as  to  what  Ibe  'loma- 

tbing '  is. 
The  TRDE  religion  says : 
'Nothing  in  my  baud  I  bring.'  " 

LINES  well  worth  pondering  are  these,  reader, 
and  we  beg  you  to  consider  them. 
You  are,  we  will  suppose,  a  religious  per- 
son.  Most  people  are.    "  Man,"  said  an  ancient 
philosopher,  "is  a  religious  animal  " 

You  may  have  your  particular  ideas  about  re- 
ligious questions,  then ;  but  are  yours  the  trub, 
or  the  FALSE  ? 

Recently,  while  presenting  the  gospel  on  the 
streets  of  a  California  city,  we  were  often  in- 
terrupted about  as  follows:  "Look  here,  sir! 
There  are  hundreds  of  religions  in  this  country, 
and  the  followers  of  each  sect  think  theirs  the 
only  right  one.  How  can  poor,  plain  men  like 
us,  find  out  \'hat  really  is  the  truth ? " 

We  generally  replied  something  like  this: 
"  Hundreds  of  religions,  you  say  ?  That's 
strange;  I've  heard  of  only  two." 


6  The  only  two  Religions* 

"Oh,  but  you  surely  know  there  are  more 
than  that  I" 

"  Not  at  all,  sir.  I  find,  I  quite  admit,  many 
shades  of  differeuce  in  the  opinions  of  those  com- 
prising the  two  great  schools ;  but  after  all  there 
are  but  the  two.  The  one  covers  all  who  expect 
salvation  by  doing;  the  other,  all  who  have 
been  saved  by  something  done.  So  you  see  the 
whole  question  is  very  simple.  Can  you  save 
yourself,  or  have  you  to  be  saved  by  Another  ? 
If  you  can  be  your  own  savior,  you  do  not  need 
my  message.  If  you  cannot,  you  may  well  listen 
to  it." 

This  we  would  press  also  upon  you,  reader, 
and  for  a  few  moments  ask  your  attention  to  a 
picture  drawn  by  Christ  Himself  of  the  only  two 
religions.  A  word  picture  it  is,  and  a  graphic 
one.  You  will  find  it  in  Luke  xviii.  9-14.  It  is 
the  well-known  parable  of  the  Pharisee  and  the 
publican.  The  first  is  the  doer,  the  man  with 
"something"  in  his  hand,  which  he  offers  God, 
hoping  to  buy  a  seat  in  heaven.  Note  his 
prayer:  "God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as 
other  men  are,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers, 
or  even  as  this  publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the 
week,  I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  possess."  He 
is,  surely,  a  representative  man  in  the  great 
Church  of  the  Doers.  What  a  handful  he 
brings  I— his  character,  his  fasts,  and  his  tithes. 
A  Pharisee  he  is  called,  but  he  will  be  found  un- 
der a  score  of  other  names.    We  have  beheld 


The  only  two  Religions.  7 

him  in  the  garb  of  Papist  and  Jew,  Churchman 
and  Dissenter,  Unitarian  and  Evangelical,  The- 
osophist  and  Spiritist,  Buddhist  and  Brahmin, 
Mormon  and  Mohammedan,  Christian  Scientist 
and  Confucian,  Jezreelite  and— what  not  ?  His 
robes  are  various ;  his  prayers— the  pith  of  them 
—are  ever  the  same.  Sometimes  he  quotes 
Scripture.    Sometimes  he  rejects  it. 

We  heard  him  once  in  the  village  church,  tell- 
ing how,  by  living  an  exemplary  life,  attending 
to  religious  duties,  and  keeping  the  command- 
ments, he  expected  to  go  to  heaven  after  death. 
His  manner  was  earnest,  his  words  were  fer- 
vent. He  had  been  advertised  as  a  wonderful 
evangelist  and  revivalist.  He  dwelt  much  on 
reformation,  lauded  creature-righteousness,  and 
had  apparently  forgotten  that  Christ  had  ever 
died,  though  he  quoted  the  verse  that  says, 
"Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling,"  omitting  to  emphasize  the  fact  that 
salvation  must  first  be  your  own,  and  that  this 
verse  was  written  to  those  who  are  saints,  or 
saved  already. 

Not  long  after,  we  listened  to  the  Pharisee 
again,  in  the  person  of  a  Mormon  elder,  telling 
how  HIS  faith,  his  repentance,  his  baptism,  the 
fact  that  hands  had  been  laid  on  his  head,  and 
HIS  good  deeds,  assured  him,  if  he  kept  on  to  the 
end,  of  an  exalted  place  after  death;  but  not  a 
word  he  uttered  about  the  Lord  Jesus— His 
cross,  His  death,  His  blood,  His  resurrection,  or 


8 


The  only  two  Relig^ions* 


His  Priesthood;  and  although  he  dwelt  much 
on  the  doctrine  of  "justification  by  works," 
he  neglected  to  tell  his  hearers  that  such  justi- 
fication was  BEFORE  MAN  — not  before  God  I 
What  need  of  Christ  if  he  could  do  so  much 
himself? 

We  met  this  Pharisee  also  one  day  as  a  Spirit- 
ist medium,  and  asked  him  his  ground  of  hope. 
He  told  us  of  his  benevolence  and  righteousness, 
and  vaunted  loudly  his  earnest  desire  to  "  help 
the  world,"  and  "better  his  fellowman,"  but 
not  a  syllable  did  he  utter  of  Him  whom  God 
hath  made  "to  be  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanc- 
tification  and  redemption  "  to  poor  sinners  who 
receive  Him. 

A  few  months  since,  also,  we  questioned  a 
Chinese  merchant  as  to  whether  he  had  peace  in 
view  of  death.  He  said,  in  fairly  plain  English, 
that  he  tried  to  be  a  good  man:  he  neither 
smoked  opium  nor  gambled  in  the  lottery  (the 
two  great  sins  of  the  Americanized  "celestial"); 
besides,  he  worked  hard  and  attended  to  the 
precepts  of  Kung  Fu  Tze  (Confucius) ;  so  he  saw 
no  reason  to  fear.  A  Pharisee,  though  he  wore 
a  queue  1 

Different  men  were  all  these,  and  widely  dif- 
fering many  of  their  views ;  but  on  one  point 
they  all  agreed:  salvation  could  be  won  by 
EFFORT— no  need  for  the  Christ  of  God  I 

The  publican  in  our  chapter— how  different 
was  his  case!    Righteousness  he  had  none  to 


The  only  two  Religions*  9 

plead.  Character  he  is  almost  ashamed  to  men- 
tion. "Me,  THE  SINNER,"  he  cries,  and  beats 
upon  his  breast.  Fasting  and  tithes  he  cannot 
tell  of.  Empty-handed  he  appears  before  God, 
his  only  hope  that  Divine  love  may  find  a  way 
whereby  Divine  holiness  may  remain  untar- 
nished and  Divine  righteousness  be  fully  vindi- 
cated, yet  he,  a  guilty  wretch,  be  saved  instead 

of  DAMNED. 

The  latter  he  deserves.  His  true  condition  he 
does  not  try  to  hide.  Has  God,  then,  grace  for 
such  as  he  ?  and  can  He,  without  compromising 
the  dignity  of  His  throne,  let  the  poor  sinner  go 
free— nay,  more,  justify  him  before  that  throne 
and  bless  him  eternally  ? 

He  CAN.  An  apostle,  once  a  Pharisee  himself, 
but  emptied  at  last  of  all  his  fancied  goodness, 
tells  us  HOW,  and  in  what  name,  it  can  be 
DONE.  "Be  it  known  unto  you  therefore,  men 
and  brethren,  that  through  this  Man  is 
preached  unto  you  the  forgiveness  of  sins :  and 
BY  Him  all  that  believe  are  justified  from  all 
things  from  which  ye  could  not  be  justified  by 
the  law  of  Moses"  (Acts  xiii.  38,  39).  Here, 
then,  is  that  on  which  even  the  publican  can 
rest.  Here  is  the  religion  for  the  lost  and  help- 
less. Every  phase  of  the  false  one  snys,  "do;" 
but  alas,  he  cannot  do  even  what  the  law  of 
Moses  demands.  He  tries  and  struggles,  but  all 
in  vain.  To  wash  out  the  stain  of  one  sin  is,  for 
him,  impossible. 


10 


The  only  two  Religions* 


Blessed  the  message,  then,  that  "true  relig- 
ion "  brings.    It  tells  that 

"  Christ,  in  death,  has  wrought  salvation. 
God  has  raised  Him  from  the  tomb." 

Is  this  YOUR  GROUND  OF  PEACE,  dear  reader ; 
or  do  you  belong  to  that  great  church  started 
by  Cain  at  the  dawn  of  earth's  long  day,  who 
hoped  by  fruits  plucked  with  toil  from  a  cursed 
ground  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  a  holy  God 
against  sin,  instead  of,  like  Abel,  resting  on 

THE  BLOOD  OF  THE  SACRIFICE  ? 

Only  the  two  religions,  then— only  two  to- 
day. Which  is  yours  ?  Do  you  trust  in  self,  or 
Christ  ?  There  is  no  third  party  on  whom  to 
r  St.  "  To  him  that  worketh  not,  but  believeth 
on  Him  that  justifieth  the  ungodly,  his  faith  is 
counted  for  righteousness"  (Rom.  iv.  5). 


i 


u 


A  Hebrew's  5^earch  for  the  Blood  of 
Atonement. 


IN  the  spring  of  1898,  I  was  holding  some 
gospel  meetings  in  San  Francisco,  and  sev- 
eral times  addressed  the  Jews  attending  a 
"Mission  to  Israel."  On  one  occasion,  hav- 
ing concluded  my  discourse,  the  meeting  was 
thrown  open  for  discussion  with  any  Hebrews 
who  desired  to  ask  questions  or  state  difficulties, 
as  also  for  any  who  had  been  brought  to  Christ 
to  relate  their  conversions. 

The  experience  of  one  old  Jew  interested  me 
greatly,  and,  as  nearly  as  I  can,  I  give  his  re- 
marks in  his  own  words,  though  not  attempt- 
ing to  preserve  the  inimitable  Hebrew-English 
dialect. 

He  said :  "  This  is  Passover  week  among  you, 
my  Jewish  brethren ;  and  as  I  sat  here,  I  was 
thinking  how  you  will  be  observing  it.  You 
will  have  put  away  all  leaven  from  your  houses ; 
you  will  eat  the  'motsah'  (unleavened  wafers) 
and  the  ro£,sted  lamb.  You  will  attend  the  syn- 
agogue services,  and  carry  out  the  ritual  and 
directions  of  the  Talmud ;  but  you  forget,  my 
brethren,  that  you  have  everything  but  that 
which  Jehovah  required  first  of  all.  He  did  not 
say,  'When  I  see  the  leaven  put  away,  or  when 
I  see  you  eat  the  motsah,  or  the  lamb,  or  go  to 
the  synagogue;'  but  His  word  was,  'When  I 


^ 


<2  The  only  two  Religions. 

»«  the  blood  I  will  pass  over  you.'  Ah,  my 
brethren,  you  can  substitute  nothing  for  this. 
You  must  have  blood,  blood,  BLOOD  I " 
.  As  he  reiterated  this  word  with  ever-increas- 
ing emphasis,  his  black  eyes  flashed  wamin^riy 
and  his  Jewish  hearers  quailed  before  him  ' 

•'  Blood  I "  It  is  an  awful  word,  that,  for  one 
who  reveres  the  ancient  oracle,  and  yet  has  no 
sacrifice.  Turn  where  he  will  in  the  book,  the 
blood  meets  him;  but  let  him  seek  as  he  may.he 
cannot  find  it  m  the  Judaism  of  the  present 

After  a  moment's  pause,  the  patriarchal  old 
man  went  on  somewhat  as  follows:  "I  was 
born  in  Palestine,  nearly  seventy  years  ago.  As 
a  child  I  was  taught  to  read  the  Law,  the 
Psalms  and  the  Prophets.    I  early  attended  the 
synagogue  and  learned  Hebrew  from  the  Rabbis. 
At  first  I  believed  what  I  was  told,  that  ours 
was  the  true  and  only  religion,  but  as  I  grew 
older  and  studied  the  Law  more  intently,  I  was 
struck  by  the  place  the  blood  had  in  all  the  cer- 
emonies outlined  there,  and  equally  struck  by 
Its  utter  absence  in  the  ritual  to  which  I  was 
brought  up. 

"Again  and  again  I  read  Exodus  xii.  and  Le- 
viticus XVI  xvii.,  and  the  latter  chapters  es- 
pecially  made  me  tremble,  as  I  thought  of  the 
great  Day  of  Atonement  and  the  place  the  blood 
had  there.  Day  and  night  one  verse  would 
nng  m  my  ears.  '  It  is  the  blood  that  maketh 
an  atonement  for  the  soul  I'     I  knew  I  had 


A  Hebrews  Search  for  the  Blood*      13 

broken  the  law.  I  needed  atonement.  Year 
after  year,  on  that  day,  I  beat  my  breast  as  I 
confessed  my  need  of  it ;  but  it  was  to  be  made 
by  blood,  and  there  was  no  blood! 

"  In  my  distress,  at  last,  I  opened  my  heart  to 
a  learned  and  venerable  rabbi.  He  told  me  that 
God  was  angry  with  His  people.  Jerusalem  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles,  the  temple  was 
destroyed,  and  a  Mohammedan  mosque  was 
reared  up  in  its  place.  The  only  spot  on  earth 
where  we  dare  shed  the  blood  of  sacrifice,  in  ac- 
cordance with  Deuteronomy  xii.  and  Leviticus 
xvii.,  was  desecrated,  and  our  nation  scattered. 
That  was  why  there  was  no  blood.  God  had 
Himself  closed  the  way  to  carry  out  the  solemn 
service  of  the  great  Day  of  Atonement.  Now, 
we  must  turn  to  the  Talmud,  and  rest  on  its 
instruction,  and  trust  in  the  mercy  of  God  and 
the  merits  of  the  fathers. 

"  I  tried  to  be  satisfied,  but  could  not.  Some- 
thing seemed  to  say  that  the  law  was  unaltered, 
even  though  our  temple  was  destroyed.  Noth- 
ing else  but  blood  could  atone  for  the  soul. 
We  dared  not  shed  blood  for  atonement  else- 
where than  in  the  place  the  Lord  had  chosen. 
Then  we  were  left  without  an  atonement  after 
all? 

"  This  thought  filled  me  with  horror.  In  my 
distress  I  consulted  many  other  rabbis.  I  had 
but  one  great  question— PFAere  can  I  Bnd  the 
blood  of  atonement? 


U  The  only  two  Religions. 

"I  was  over  thirty  years  of  age  when  I  left 
Palestine  and  came  to  Constantinople,  with  my 
still  unanswered  question  ever  before  my  mind 
and  my  soul  exceedingly  troubled  about  my  sins! 
"One  night  I  was  walking  down  one  of  the 
narrow  streets  of  that  city,  when  I  saw  a  sign 
telling  of  a  meeting  for  Jews.     Curiosity  led  me 
to  open  the  door  and  go  in.    Just  as  I  took  a 
seat  I  heard  a  man  say,  'The  blood  of  Jesus 
Lhnst,  His  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin  '    It 
was  my  first  introduction  to  Christianity,  but 
I  listened  breathlessly  as  the  speaker  told  how 
God  had  declared  that  'without  shedding  of 
blood  IS  no  remission ; '  but  that  He  had  given 
His  only  begotten  Son,  the  Lamb  of  God,  to 
die,  and  all  who  trusted  in  His  blood  were  for- 
given  all  their  iniquities.    This  was  the  Messiah 
of  the  fifty-third  of  Isaiah :  this  was  the  Sufferer 
of  Psalm  xxii.    Ah,  my  brethren,  I  had  found 
the  blood  of  atonement  at  last.     I  trusted  it 
and  now  I  love  to  read  the  New  Testament  and 
see  how  all  the  shadows  of  the  law  are  fulfilled 
in  Jesus.    His  blood  has  been  shed  for  sinners. 
It  has  satisfied  God,  and  it  is  the  only  means  of 
salvation  for  either  Jew  or  Gentile." 

Reader,  have  you   yet  found  the   blood  of 
atonement?    "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  "  (John  i  29) 
Are  you  trusting  in  God's  smitten  Lamb?-the 
sacrifice  of  God? 


15 


GOD'S  REMEDY 
VERSUS  THAT  OF  THE  PRIEST. 


« 


1 


'4 


I 


RECENTLY  we  listened  to  a  Romish  father 
of  the  Paulist  order  as,  for  some  time,  he 
depicted  with  fervor  and  eloquence— we 
might  even  say  power— the  exceeding  heinous- 
ness  of  sin.  A  fell  disease  he  showed  it  to  be— a 
dreadful  curse,  a  terrible  affront  to  a  holy  God. 
He  spared  no  words  in  declaring  the  undone 
condition  of  the  sinner,  his  loss  for  time,  his  aw- 
ful fate  for  eternity.  Our  own  heart  was  moved 
by  it.    We  doubt  not  many  others  were. 

When,  at  last,  he  had  well-nigh  exhausted  his 
magnificent  vocabulary  in  picturing  sin's  direful 
work  of  destruction,  he  paused  a  moment,  then 
asked,  dramatically,  "Is  there  no  remedy? 
Must  the  sinner  be  eternally  lost  ?  Or,  is  there 
a  means  of  deliverance  even  for  the  one  guilty 
of  mortal  sin?" 

Anxiously  we  waited  for  his  answer,  feeling 
that  perhaps  the  fate  of  many  souls  in  the  great 
cathedral  trembled  in  the  balance. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  a  remedy  there  is.  God  has 
provided  it.  All  can  avail  themselves  of  it.   Lis- 


, 


I' 


16 


The  only  two  ReUftom. 


a"  "ight  ca  "h  the^n  i""'*''"  P""'  'hat 
would  it  1«?    r~^>  ™P°rt«nt  wotd.    What 

Chri,t-H!:'fi„f,rj  rif'kr  STu  ''^ 
Sad  indeed  was  onr  h.  I  '  '  '""^  """d ' 
blessed  T,amTL  Z^^"^  '!'  '"  P'^"  »'  »« 
"Penan«r  P^-o-a^d  the  one  word, 

by  pointing  them  to'ar,'^''  *^'"  "  «'^  »«t 
-  avail  P  'Afarsl°it\r "Ctrlfr^  ^ 

H':ro7arwrso:;rt  ::z  ^^"^^ 

by  penance  and  prayers  •■wlf!'".'^''''''*'™ 
6/oorf  there  is  no  ™  '  •'  "'*bont  sAerf<//„„  c/- 
„..  "f  "  °o  remission "  (Heb  ii  991  «  i 
yet,  ere  he  clo»»1  »!,•.  ^'»f"K.  ^w!).  And 

ve«e  that  ttthi's^  rdftr..Tt,  '^^ 

of  Jesus  Christ  His  Kn«  .1  ,      -^"^  ''^^ood 

P "  (1  John  i*7t^  ifThi  'r-t  i\ir, "" 

for  penance?    If  a//  «:„  i^    ,    "'^'  ^"^t  place 
-^at  sin  willtTnce^J^rafata^-^' 

-:;'*SinTifa°4^^'"rn':n^"^«e.'bis 

burdened^with^thet  loV^f  ^11:  IJ7J-*  « 
't  aU  as  at  the  beginning,  for-  '"^  "'^ 


God's  Remedy  versus  the  Priest's.     17 

"  None  but  Jesus 
Can  do  guilty  sinners  good." 

Of  Him  it  is  written,  "  Whom  God  hath  set 
forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  His 
blood,  to  declare  His  righteousness  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins  that  are  past,  through  the  for- 
bearance of  God:  to  declare,  I  say,  at  this  time 
His  righteousness;  that  He  might  be  just,  nnd 
the  justifier   of  him    that  believeth  in  Jesus" 
(Rom.  iii.  25,  26).    And  lest  any  should  think  it 
needful  to  add  to  this  their  own  poor  works- 
penance  or  aught  else— we  are  told,  "Now  to 
him  that  worketh  is  the  reward  not  reckoned 
of  grace,  but  of  debt.    But  to  him  that  work^^ 
no^,but  believeth  on  Him  that  justifieth  the  i: 
godly,  his  faith  is  counted  for  righteousness" 
(Rom.  iv.  4,  5). 

Turn,  then,  reader,  if  unsaved,  from  every 
other  remedy,  and  "behold  the  Lamb  of  God, 
that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (Tohn 
i.  29).  ^ 


18 


"WHICH  THIEF?'' 


OH,  of  course,  I  intend  to  be  saved  some 
time ;  but  there  is  no  use  l)eing  in  a  hurry 
about  it.    There  is  always  a  chance,  eveu 
at  the   eleventh  hour.     Remember  the   dyinsr 
thief!  "  carelessly  said  a  young  man  at  the  clo^ 

°  .f,xT^V°^'  '^^^'^  ^P°^^^  to  about  his  soul. 

Which   thief?  ^^  pointedly   asked  his   ques- 
tioner.  ^ 

"  Why,  I  had  really  forgotten  there  were  two 
I  mean  the  saved  one,"  was  the  reply,  as  an 
anxious  expression  came  over  his  face. 

•'Yes  one  was  saved,  and  is  in  heaven  now. 

1  he  other,  who  had  an  equal  opportunitv  for 

salvation,  is  wailing  in  hell.    What  warrant 

have  you  that  you  will  not  spend  eternity  as  he 

will,  rather  than  as  the  other  ?  " 

It  was  a  word  fitly  spoken,  an  arrow  that 
pierced  the  joints  of  his  harness ;  and  the  young 
man  was  led  to  see  the  folly  of  further  procras- 
tmation,  and  that  night  was  saved  for  eternity 
through  receiving  the  Lord  Jt  as  Christ  as  his 
personal  Saviour. 

Thousands,  like  him,  forget  there  were  "two 
thieves.       They  remember  the   mercy  of  God 


''Which  Thief?" 


19 


that  saved  the  one,  while  forgetting  the  judg- 
ment of  God  meted  out  to  the  other.  Carelessly 
th?y  wander  on,  hoping  to  be  saved  at  last; 
but,  alas,  how  many  are  cut  off  in  sin  and 
damned  forever,  to  whom  the  gospel  was  often 
presented,  but  who,  presuming  on  the  patience 
of  God,  rejected  it  until  "there  was  no  remedy." 

Which  thief,  reader,  we  affectionately  ask, 
would  you  be  like  ?  We  recollect  speaking  once 
to  a  very  refined  and  elegant  lady  on  a  steamer, 
who  asked,  indignantly,  "  You  do  not  mean  to 
say  I  have  got  fr  co  to  heaven  like  the  dving 
thief,  do  you  ?  " 

"No,  madam,"  we  replied,  "you  do  not  have 
to.  If  you  reject  Christ,  you  will  have  to  go  to 
hell  with  the  other." 

And  so  we  would  remind  the  reader : 

The  saved  thief  believed  on  the  Son  of  God, 
and  is  with  Christ  now. 

The  lost  thief  scorned  a  Saviour,  and  is  in 
the  depths  of  woe. 

You  must  be  with  one  or  the  othei  for  eter- 
nity. 

"  Because  there  is  wrath,  beware  lest  He  take 
thee  away  with  His  stroke :  then  a  great  ran- 
som cannot  deliver  thee." 


20 


(' 


THE  MORMON'S  MISTAKE; 

OR, 

^'HAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

MOT  long  since,  there  eame  to  my  door  a 
xM    young  man  dressed  in  the  conventional! 

cineTL?te:.r 'sltTrrr  t''  -''-  ''■-°- 

»o.  ..e,der^^.^rhotrVotU-C4htra 
more  correct  term,  (1  Pet.  v.  5)  as  scripfurll  ejd 
ers  were  invariably  men  of  years  and  ex«ri 
ence,-who  could  care  for  the  flock  of  God  (1 P^ 
V.  1-3).  but  were  not  to  lord  it  over  the  people 
of  God  as  over  possessions.  ^ 

rfJ°A^'  '^?  »™tioned,  the  Mormon  intro- 
duced himself  as  a  "  minister  of  the  gospel  doW 
missionary  work  among  the  mounfain  towns  ^ 
of  California,  and   stated  that  he  wouW  be 

wi  tue  gospel.      Intimatme-  thaf  T  T»,t„„ir 
also  seeking  to  give  forth  lod'sgoXewsT 
P^^;^J^^^^2}^'-  ^^)-  he  wa^s  told  tiat  tf 

*■■--     -■        .„    ,kL  ."."•■."'.'.''""!<'"«»<l  "fer- 


'ing  to  tt.  ag.  of  ih.  „.;■ :  i'^;" ""!  ■ '"f.  '°'t 


As  to  all 


The  Mormon's  Mistake. 


21 


such  was  indeed  his  object,  I  would  be  glad  to 
converse  with  him ;  so  bade  him  be  seated. 

"And  now,  sir,"  he  was  asked,  "would  you 
kindly  favor  us  "  (a  number  were  present) "  with 
a  short  statement  of  what  the  sfospel  reallv 
is?"  ^  ^ 

"  Certainly,"  he  replied.  "  The  gospel  consists 
of  four  chief  points.  The  first  is  repentance ;  the 
second,  faith;  the  third,  baptism  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sins  by  one  duly  qualified ;  while  the 
fourth  is  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  a  man 
called  of  God,  for  the  reception  of  the  Holv 
Ghost."  ^ 

"Well,  and  supposing  one  has  gone  through 
all  this,  is  he  then  saved  ?  " 

"Oh,  of  course,  no  one  can  know  that  in  this 
life.  If  one  goes  on  to  the  end,  he  will  be  exalted 
in  the  kingdom."  Thereupon  he  proceeded  to 
open  a  little  Testament,  with  which,  however, 
he  was  but  slightly  familiar,  and  pointed  us  to 
some  proof  texts  showing  conclusively  that  the 
Lord  and  the  apostles  preached  repentance  and 
faith,  as  also  that  Peter  spoke  of  "baptism  for 
the  remission  of  sins  "  (Acts  ii.  38 ;  let  the  reader 
carefully  note  the  verse  and  its  context),  and 
that  in  at  least  two  instances  (Acts  viii.  14-17; 
xix.  1-6)  apostles  laid  their  hands  on  people  in 
order  to  their  receiving  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  An  effort  was  also  made  to  find  a  verse 
to  prove  that  no  one  can  know  he  is  saved  now ; 
but  in  the  face  of  Eph.  ii.  4-8 ;  1  Pet.  i.  9 ;  1  Cor! 


i' 


22 


The  only  two  Religions. 


1.  8;  2  Cor.  ii.  15-  and  2  Tim  ;  o  ^u- 
A«  frt +T,:o  ,    "*^^^"se  ot  his  position. 

1  quite  agree  with  you."  I  saiH   "a=  +^  ..u 
feet  that  Scripture  spe'^ak    of  the  fo„^  o^j!*: 
you  ption;  but,  possibly,  you  d  d  not  ZT 

ples-LfXdth^go'rr""'  '^^  P*"- 

pel  without  Christ  7nl;r^°">''^^  8°"- 
wJti,  *i,  ^""st,  in  other  words,  a  eosoel 

w.th  the  gospel  omitted.    And  if  you  are  cot 

He  d,d  not,  however.    He  was  not  aware  of 

Zl   r    ""■''*  ^*^t'^°>»t  on  the  suylS    In 
feet,  ,t  was  soon  evident  that,  with  the  except 

!:!!i!!^:i:^^;^^^^^hisfavor^^ 

Barker:  .J«,'..Th.p!j^      """ '  "'■  f^f't^T,"  by  W. 
Ave.,  New  Voik,  Loi2e.n,  Bi»s.,  63  Fourth 


The  Mormon's  Mistake* 


23 


Bible  was  practically  a  sealed  book.  He  turned, 
however,  at  my  direction,  to  the  fifteenth  chap- 
ter of  1st  Corinthians,  to  which,  for  a  little,  I 
would  invite  the  reader's  careful  attention. 

Commencing  at  the  first  verse  of  this  precious 
and  wondrous  portion  of  Scripture,  we  read : 
"Moreover,  brethren,  I  declare  unto  you  the 
gospel  which  I  preached  unto  you,  which  also 
ye  have  received,  and  wherein  ye  stand;  by 
V.  lich  also  ye  are  saved,  if  ye  keep  in  memory 
what  I  preached  unto  you,  unless  ye  have  be- 
lieved in  vain.  For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of 
all  that  which  I  also  received,  how  th^t  Christ 
died  ior  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptur  " 
(see  Isa.  liii.  5,  6);  "and  that  He  was  buried, 
and  that  He  rose  again  the  third  day  according 
to  the  Scriptures :  and  that  He  was  seen  of  Ce- 
phas," etc. 

Here  I  stopped,  as  the  rest  of  the  passage  is 
devoted  to  bringing  forth  the  eye-witnesses  of 
Christ  in  resurrection,  and  therefore  could 
hardly  be  considered  doctrinal;  though  the 
reader  w^.ll  derive  much  benefit  by  meditation 
on  the  entire  portion  at  his  leisure. 

"Now,"  I  said,  turning  to  the  Mormon,  "we 
have  here  a  statement  of  the  gospel— the  gospel 
which  Paul  preached;  and  it  is  dangerous  to 
preach  any  other,  as  we  find  from  Gal.  i.  8,  9 
that  the  person  who  does  so,  though  it  be  an 
angel  from  heaven,  is  under  a  curse,  or  devoted 
to  judgment.    I  understand  that  you  teach  that 


24 


The  only  two  Religions. 


your  gospel  was  revealed  to  Joseph  Smith  by  an 
a.gel.  If  true,  that  would  prove  nothing  ifft" 
found  upon  examination,  to  be  other  than  thS 

^r  TIT'i^  *'■'  ^P°^*'^  *°  *-  Gentiles  ffis 
gospel  had  been  received  by  the  Corinthians  "a 

IZl  T'  '•  ""  '\  ''"''  ""«  ^'-'''  'f «" ''^^ 
IT'        "*'  °°*-  y""  ^'»  °oti«,  a  careful 

according  to  certam  rules,  such  as  you  men- 
t,oned  a  few  minutes  ago,  that  would  injure 
the,r  salyabon  however  blessed  such  might  be 
rf properly  understood;  but  it  was  keeping  in 
memory  this  gospel.  "^P'og  m 

"I  notice  then,  to  begin  with,  that  his  gospel 
IS  concernwg  a  Person,  and  quite  a  different 
person  than  yours  brings  before  „=.  It  is  'con 
ceramg  the  Son  of  God,'  as  Rom.  i.  3  tells T 
Your  gospel  did  not  have  a  word  about  Him 
m  all  ,ts  four  pomts.    The  subject  of  Paul's  go" 

IT^    -T:,  ■  !   r^^^  ^'^  ""St't  say  it  also  could 
be  d mded  mto  four  heads,  though  more  prep 
erly  three;  but  even  divided  into  four  (to  L  as 
far  w,th  you  as  we  can),  what  mark  d  chffcr 
enccs  do  we  find  I    Your  four  heads  are  all  con- 
cermng  the  poor  sinner,  and  might  be  put  th^ 

1.  The  sinr.  r  repents ; 

2.  The  sinner  has  faith  ; 

3.  The  sinner  is  baptized  ; 

4.  The  sinner  has  hands  I'aid  on  him. 


The  Mormon's  Mistake* 


25 


Now,  in  contrast  to  this,  see  how  the  true  gos- 
pel can  be  put : 

1.  Christ  died ; 

2.  Christ  was  buried  ; 

3.  Christ  has  been  raised  again ; 

4.  Christ  is  the  object  for  the  hearts  of  His 

own. 

"Surely  the  two  gospels  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon. You  teach,  I  believe,  that  Christ  died  for 
Adam's  transgression,  not  for  ours ;  but  main- 
tain that  while  Adamic  sin  is  met  by  the  Cross, 
our  sins  as  individuals  must  be  washed  away 
by  baptism.  Paul's  gospel  tells  us  that  He  died 
for  our  sins ;  and  if  that  be  so,  and  *  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  God's  Son,  cleanseth  us  from 
all  sin,'  where  does  baptism  in  your  sense  ap- 
ply ?  If  all  my  sins  are  met  by  His  precious 
blood,  if  they  were  bomt  'in  His  own  body  on 
the  tree '  (1  Pet.  ii.  24),  how  many  are  left  to  be 
cleansed  by  baptism?*  Assuredly  none.  But, 
alas,  this  is  but  one  instance  in  which  the  false 
gospel  of  Mormonism  is  opposed  to  the  precious 
gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  as  revealed  in  the 
Bible. 

*'  But  I  go  on  to  the  second  point.  Christ  not 
only  died,  but  'was  buried  ; '  yet  it  was  written 


*  We  quite  admit  tliat  governmental,  cr  administrative,  for- 
giveiifss  of  sins  was  confened  in  JKiptisin,  as  receivinfi  ilie  bap- 
tized iiinoriij  tlie  VkhIv  of  i)elievei':*.  Ttiis  is  n  difffient  tiiinj;  to 
eternal  forgiveue^  before  God.     See  Jobu  zx.  22,  23. 


26 


h 


. 


The  only  two  Religions. 


I' 


of  Him,  «Thou  wilt  not  leave  Mv  soul  iti  l,*.ii 
neither  wilt  Thou  suffer  Thy  Hoi  Onl  ?        ' 
corruption"  (Acts  ii   27-  pL      ^-    ...*°  ^ 
bunal  declares  the  reality  of  His  death    ^n^ 

thetf  '^^'^  "^''^^  being^brever  through  .!^h 
the  place  He  took  on  earth     ft  i*  ^h.  .  a    r  ^. 

by  ba;^stuTdratJ..To  iTf  ^*''  «- 
whe«  Monnodsn.  would  eate  me  ^  a"„*  '^ 
strugg.i„^  soul  on  earth,  stri^i  ^io^e^nCe 
to  the  end  in  order  to  be  saved   but  I  Tr^  ? 

"  cS,t  ''"  ^TS''*  *°  *•■'  thW  point: 

t-hnst  was  raised  from  the  dead  «r,/i 

raised  with  Him     h;.    i       •  '  ™o  I  am 

u  witn  Mm.    Uis  place  is  now  mine  nt  tn 

acceptance  with  God     '  H.  j  ,■  *° 

-  ounces  and\^..^,Tr:S,::: 

X^rthrsi^edi^-i- 

(Rev''f  l«r*'''  °"*  ^''°  '^  «"«  forevermore 

to  see  fhT  i!     ■  ""^  ®'°"^^«  ^'•e  first  led 


The  Mormon's  Mistake* 


27 


1 


ence.  The  eye  of  faith  is  then  directed  to  the 
One  who  died,  in  whom  believing,  they  are  'jus- 
tified from  all  things'  (Acts  xni.  38,  39).  Now 
they  have  also  an  object  for  the  heart,  even 
Christ  in  glory  (2  Cor.  iii.  18).  How  dififerent 
this  to  what  you  have  presented  I  Here, 
'  'Tis  Jesus  first,  'tis  Jesus  last, 
'Tis  Jesus  all  the  way,' 

while  you  are  cast  entirely  on  yourself. 

"But  now,  another  question.  You  spoke  of 
men  with  authority  to  baptize  and  lay  on 
hands.    Where  do  you  get  that  in  Scripture  ?  " 

For  answer,  he  turned  to  Heb.  v.  4,  and  read, 
"Arfd  no  man  taketh  this  honor  unto  himself, 
but  he  that  is  called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron." 

"  What '  honor '  is  here  referred  to  ?  "  I  asked. 

"The  honor  of  the  priesthood  giving  author- 
ity to  baptize  and  confer  the  Holy  Ghost." 

"No;  the  first  verse  contradicts  this.  It  is 
not  a  question  of  the  *  priesthood '  at  all.  As 
all  believers  now  are  priests,  there  is  no  special 
priestly  class  in  Christianity,  as  is  clearly  shown 
by  referring  to  Rev.  i.  6 ;  and  1  Pet.  ii.  5,  9.  The 
subject  in  Heb.  v.  is  that  of  High  Priesthood, 
and  is  referring  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  called 
of  God,  as  noted  in  ver.  6.  Nor  is  there  a  word 
about  baptism  or  imposition  of  hands ;  but  it  is 
a  question  of  *  offering  gifts  and  sacrifices  for 
sins*  (ver.  1 ;  also  Heb.  ii.  17),  and  then  of  suc- 
coring His  people  in  this  world  of  trial.  To  ap- 
ply such  a  scripture  to  human  ministry  is  simply 


28 


The  only  two  Religions. 


'handling  the  word  of  God  deceitfullv  '  ««^  ^ 
serves  the  severest  censure  »  '^'^^""^'  ^^  ^^ 
Such  was,  in  substance,  what  I  sought  to  out 

rathe.be  occupied  w"hir"i.*„t„«XS 
or  A«  a„^<A,„^,  than  with  God's  Christ    1„^t 

thesa.ec^ssasl1il^i»Sid*C^^^^^^ 
Tut  l";,e  wrirh^"*""'  "■■?«''*  '«f°«  "im  had 

b,  th    SpiHt  of  God,  the^rner  w     ^'1^°^* 

s'::*isr:r  ^^^ '-'"''  «■-  -o.pHshS!the 

ries  of  Mormonism.  In  thaftr"  ched  sv,T 
repentance  is  confounds  wJrt  v  ^  *"" 
faith  with  credulity  Penitence,  and 

"*•  *■"  °''''"»g  th"  one  is  lost  andgiijtf, 


The  Mormon's  Mistake* 


29 


righteously  deserving  the  wrath  of  a  ho./  God. 
Faith  is  trusting  in  Christ,  whose  finished  work 
puts  away  sins  forever.  It  is  not  simply  credit- 
ing the  statement  that  God  exists,  or  that  the 
historical  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God.  "If  thou 
shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  believe  in  thy  heart  that  God  hath  raised 
Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved;  for 
with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness, and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made 
unto  salvation"  (Rom.  x.  9,  10). 
\  Of  you,  reader,  we  would  affectionately  ask, 

1  Are  you  making  the  same  mistake  as  the  "eld- 

er?" You  might  ridicule  the  poor,  benighted 
Mormon,  and  be  amazed  at  the  semi-heathen- 
ism taught  by  his  church,  but  do  you,  perhaps, 
trust  in  something  just  as  hollow,  when  judged 
by  the  book  of  God  ? 

Remember :  penances ;  wrought-up  repentance, 
consisting  in  peculiar  frames,  feelings,  and  re- 
nunciations; intellectual  acquiescence  to  the 
truths  of  the  Bible,  miscalled  faith ;  baptism, 
whether  administered  by  Mormon  elder  or  or- 
dained clergyman;  laying  on  of  hands,  or  any 
other  human  rite  or  divinely  ^^rescribed  cere- 
mony, will  avail  nothing  for  you. 

Christ,  and  Christ  alone,  is  your  only  salva- 
tion. Discarding  all  else,  fly,  then,  to  Him. 
"Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved  "  (Acts  xvi.  31). 


30 


The  only  two  Religions. 


M 


i> 


i     J 


I     ^ 


NOTE  ON  MORMON  DOCTRINES. 

p  the  preceding  paper  it  has  been  my  aim  not  to 

i     follow  all  the  devious  errors  of  Mormonism,  and 

seek  to  refute  them,    but  rather  to  endeavor  to 

show  how  opposed  the  system  is  to  the  ^os/r/  of  the 

g^ory  of  the  blessed  God.  which  He  has  revealed  in 

His  Word. 

It  has  been  suggested,  however,  that  a  brief  epitome 
of  some  of  the  more  important  doctrines  of  the  sect,  on 
other  Imes,  might  be  helpful  in  serving  as  a  warning  to 
any  who.  allured  by  fair  speeches  and  sophistical  rea- 
sonings,  are  drifting  towards  its  awful  vortex 

The  following  statements  can  readily  be  proven  to 
be  part  of  the  weird  paganism  of  this  dreadful  quasi- 
rehgious  cult,  by  examination  of  the  more  "  advanced  " 
of  their  publications,  though  some  of  them  are  often 
denied  by  the  traveling  "elders,"  whose  business  it  is 
not  to  alarm  by  making  public  the  "depths  of  Satan  " 
but  to  allure  by  presenting  a  creed  as  near  like  that  of 
orthodox  Christianity  as  possible.     Nothing  could  be 
more  misleading  than  the  statement  of  the  "doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints" 
which  IS  now  being  circulated  by  thousands  all  over 
he  land     This  was  compiled  by  the  assumed  prophet 
Joseph  Smith  m  the  infancy  of  the  movement,  long 
before  "present-day  revelation"  had  introduced  the 
many  vagaries  with  which  it  abounds  to-day. 

The  leading  doctrines  accepted  among  them  to^Iay 
are,  bnefiy,  as  follows: 


Note  on  Mormon  Doctrines*        31 


They  profess  to  believe  in  the  Bible,  but  gain  addi- 
tional "  light "  from  the  *'  Book  of  Mormon,"  a  coUeo 
tion  of  rubbish  which  one  but  needs  to  scan  to  see  its 
utter  absurdity  and  incongruity  with  the  word  of  God. 
"The  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  purporting 
to  be  a  series  of  revelations,  chiefly  to  Joseph  Smith, 
is  also  considered  inspired,  as  is  "  The  Pearl  of  Great 
Price,"  which  includes  "  The  Book  of  Abraham,"  and 
other  apocryphal  works ;  while  prophets  and  apostles 
abound  who  may  at  any  time  give  forth  further  com- 
munications,  all  of  equal  authority  with  these. 

They  are  really  polytheist,  and  believe  that  there 
are  many  gods,  but  that  all  (save  possibly  the  first — as 
to  this  their  statements  are  conflicting)  were  at  one 
time  men,  but  gained  their  exaltation  to  divinity  by 
their  faithfulness  in  this  state.  It  is  the  hope  of  each 
man  to  become  a  god  eventually.  Their  gods  are  sup- 
posed to  retain  their  human  forms  and  functions. 

It  is  in  connection  with  this  that  polygamy  comes 
in.  This  relationship  is  carried  on  eternally.  The 
progeny  of  the  gods  and  thtir  numerous  wives  will 
constitute  their  "kingdom"  in  the  ages  to  come. 
Woman's  welfare  depends  on  her  being  united  to  one 
of  the  faithful. 

As  to  this  world  (to  them  there  are  many),  they  teach 
a  Trinity,  who  administer  its  affairs.  God  and  Christ 
are  both  said  to  have  human  bodies,  parts,  and  pas- 
sions ;  but  the  Holy  Spirit  is  omnipresent,  though  of  a 
material  substance. 

The  preceding  paper  has  outlined  their  teaching  as 
to  the  salvation  of  the  living.    They  also  publicly  pro- 


r 
V 


32  The  only  two  Religions. 

claim  ..Ivation  for  the  dead,  to  whom  the  gospel  is  be- 

earth  will  be  baptized  for  them. 

As  to  eschatology,  they  have  a  system  of  prophetic 
^aching  embodying  an  exceedingly  carnal  view  of  the 
Millennium,  ushered  in  by  the  return  of  Chrf  to  re- 
gather  Israel,  including  the  ten  tribes,  to  a  z.ion  in 
America  (I),  and  to  destroy  all  the  enemies  of  "the 

z  \u ""':  1''^ "'"  ^'  "'^*^'  «"^  ->»  «PP-r  on 

the  earth  Referring  to  this  time,  Parley  Pratt  say, 
in  his  ..Voice  of  Warning."  ..Qur  father  Adam  will 
sit  enthroned  as  the  Ancient  of  Days,"  etc..  ascribing 
the  words  of  Dan.  vii.  9,  ,0  to  refer  to  him  I 

A  final  judgment  will  conclude  all  things ;  but  no 
one  will  be  eternally  lost.     There  are  three  spheres, 
terrestrial,  celestial,  and  /el^sfial     In  one  of  these  al 
will  eventually  be  found. 

Such  a  iystem  needs  no  attempt  at  refuta.  -  ..  It 
refutes  itself.  No  child  of  God,  who  has  at  all  appre- 
hended  the  Cross,  could  be  ensnared  by  it;  but  it  is 
because  many  unwary  and  simple  ones,  anxious  to  be 
saved,  but  Ignorant  of  God's  way,  are  daily  being  en- 
trapped by  It,  that  this  paper  has  been  penned. 

inli'-^^,''*  "'M'/°  '^'''""^  '"^"y  ^'°«  «"ch  "abom- 
inable idolatries  "  (i  Pet  iv.  5). 


f 


33 


THE  TRAMP  WHO  BECAME  A  DEACON; 

AND  HOW  HE  FOUND  PEACE  WITH  GOD. 


A  RAGGED,  travel-stained  and  hungry-look- 
ing tramp  was  idly  shambling  along  one 
of  the  principal  streets  of  the  thriving  city 
of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  some  few  years  ago, 
furtively  eyeing  the  passers-by,  as  though  won- 
dering who  would  be  most  likely  to  respond  to 
a  touching  plea  of  ill-luck  and  various  hard- 
ships, when  suddenly  a  police  officer  touched 
him  on  the  shoulder. 

"Look  here,"  he  said,  "yon're  not  fit  to 
be  seen  on  the  streets  of  this  place.  I'll  give  you 
jrst  forty  minutes  to  get  out  of  town ;  and  if 
you're  found  in  the  city  limits  after  that  time, 
I'll  run  you  in  for  sixty  days." 

The  tramp  hastily  beat  a  retreat,  and  started 
for  the  railroad.  He  would  not  have  minded 
thirty  days  in  jail.  In  fact,  it  would  have  really 
been  m  the  nature  of  an  accommodation,  and 
would  have  rather  pleased  him ;  for, when  let  out 
again  the  present  cold  weather  would  probably 
have  passed  away,  and  he  would  have  food  ind 
rest,  at  least,  in  the  interim.  He  had  plenty  of 
the  latter  as  it  was,  but  the  former  had  been  ex- 


34 


Ir 
I 


The  only  two  Religions. 


II 

r 

III 


ceedingly  difficult  to  obtain  of  late ;  for  beyond 
occasional  scraps  of  bread  dropped  by  the  train 
hands  along  the  track,  and  dried  com  found  in 
the  fields,  he  had  tasted  nothing  for  several 
days. 

A  month  in  jail  would  certainly  be  preferable 
to  spending  the  same  length  of  time  in  his  pres- 
ent half-starved  condition.  In  fact,he  finally  con- 
cluded that  even  two  months,  long  as  it  seemed, 
would  be  better  than  to  go  as  hungry  as  he 
had  recently.  So,  suddenly  deciding  to  accept 
the  hospitahty  of  the  city,  he  turned  right- 
about and  began  retracing  his  steps,  looking  for 
the  officer  who  had  threatened  his  arrest.  He 
got  back  to  the  comer  from  whence  he  had  been 
ordered  away,  but  no  policeman  was  in  sight. 
He  roamed  where  he  would,  according  to  his 
own  will,  and  still  no  officer  appeared. 

He  began  to  despair  of  any  present  relief.  No 
one  w^ould  part  with  their  means  to  assist  him, 
and  he  could  not  even  mn  across  a  policeman 
who  woula  arrest  him.  He  was  turning  discon- 
solately away  and  heading  for  the  railroad 
again,  when  a  kindly-visaged  individual,  evi- 
dently noting  his  forlorn  appearance,  stopped 
as  he  passed  him,  and  dropped  a  five-cent  piece 
into  his  hand.  The  surprised  and  gratified  va- 
grant mumbled  some  unheard  words  of  thank- 
fulness as  the  gentleman  passed  on,  nd  then 
hastened  off  to  a  nearby  store,  wh-  he  in- 
vested in  some  crackers,  thinking  he  \  oul '  -ret 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon.    35 


■I 
i 
I 


of  these  the  'at^^est  amount.  Ordinarily  the 
drinking  k  vooix  would  have  claimed  him,  but 
on  this  oc  asion  he  df.ided  that  hunger  should 
have  the  iwsx.  place;  ! hirst  would  be  attended 
to  next  time.  E&.gcrly  grasping  his  purchase, 
he  hastened  off  to  an  out-of-the  way  place  to 
satisfy  the  cravings  of  his  appetite. 

Ensconced  on  a  pile  of  railway  ties,  he  w^as 
munching  his  dry  meal,  when  the  door  of  a  cot- 
tage across  the  street  opened,  and  a  little  girl,  a 
bright-faced,  cheery  child  of  perhaps  eight  sum- 
mers, stepped  out  and  came  straight  over  to 
where  he  sat;  bearing  in  her  dainty  hands  a 
cup  of  steaming  hot  coffee. 

"Here,  poor  man,"  she  said,  my  mama  sent 
this  to  you,  because  it's  so  cold,  and  she  saw 
you  eating  your  supper  without  anything  warm 
to  drink.  She  didn't  put  any  cream  in  it,  for  she 
thought  perhaps  you  might  not  like  it ;  but  if 
you  do,  I'll  run  and  get  you  some." 

With  that,  the  little  miss  handed  the  refresh- 
ing cup  to  the  wretched  young  man  on  the  ties, 
who,  long  unused  to  such  kindness,  was  too  as- 
tonished, for  the  moment,  to  utter  even  a  word 
of  thanks,  but  took  it  from  her  hands  in  silence. 
When  he  returned  the  cup  to  the  house,  and  did 
essay  to  speak,  his  feelings  quite  overcame  him ; 
and  bursting  into  tears,  he  thanked  the  mother 
for  her  kindness  to  one  so  worthless. 

As  the  tears  rolled  down  his  rough  cheeks,  she 
falteiied  some  words  of  comfort,  but  he  turned 


V- 
rJ. 

if' 


\u 


m  ^ 


»S 


:.l 


36  The  only  two  Religions. 

hastily  from  the  door,  and  started  down  the 
road,  anxious  to  be  alone  with  his  own 
thoughts. 

And  think,  he  did.  That  Httle  act  of  thought- 
ful kindness,  those  sympathetic  words,  had 
touched  a  hidden  spring  in  the  heart  of  the  wan- 
derer that  seemed  to  set  all  the  wheels  of  mem- 
ory, long  clogged,  in  motion.  It  is  true  he  was 
only  a  tramp,  and,  as  such,  considered  to  be 
feelingless,  and  possibly  soulless,  by  the  most  of 
the  people  whom  he  encounteied.  But  he  was 
a  man  for  all  that,  and  for  his  soul,  as  for  all 
others,  Christ  had  died.  Dirty  and  dissolute  as 
he  was,  the  God  of  all  grace,  who  declares  that 
"there  is  no  difference,"  in  that  all  alike  have 
smned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  was 
looking  upon  him  in  compassion  and  love'  and 
had  followed  him  through  all  his  tangled  path- 
way. 

He  had  not  always  been  in  the  plight  we  have 
seen  him  in.  Bom  on  a  little  farm  in  the  state 
of  Pennsylvania;  the  child  of  honest,  hard- 
working parents,  it  had  doubtless  never  entered 
his  mother's  mind,  as  night  r'.er  night  she 
tucked  her  baby  boy  away  in  his  bed,  that  some 
day  her  dariing  would  be  a  homeless  wanderer, 
a  slave  to  drink  and  kindred  vices,  spumed  by 
the  self-righteous,  hunted  by  the  officers  of  the 
law,  and  a  stranger  generally  to  affection,  com- 
fort, and  purity.  Yet  so  it  was.  As  he  left 
childhood  behind,  he  grew  up  without  God ;  and 


I     :* 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon*   37 

when,  at  an  early  age,  he  had  to  go  out  to 
work,  he  soon  fell  in  with  evil  companions,  who 
introduced  him  to  "the  pleasures  of  sin,"  in 
forms  he  had  known  nothing  of  in  the  quiet 
home  of  his  earliest  days ;  so  that  he  became 
quite  accustomed  to  the  taste  of  tobacco  and 
strong  drink  while  yet  in  his  teens,  and  was 
often  drunk  before  he  was  twenty. 

He  was  not  yet  at  that  age,  when  he  left  the 
more  prosaic  East  for  the  wilder  West ;  though 
at  that  time  getting  no  farther  than  the  state 
of  Illinois,  where  he  worked  for  a  short  period ; 
then,  after  a  brief  visit  home,  he  turned  his  steps 
towards  Ohio.  For  a  few  months  he  worked 
on  a  new  railroad ;  but  this  put  him  in  company 
with  men  of  the  hardest  character,  who  t.-f  "ily 
helped  to  mold  him  in  the  same  way.  He  was 
an  apt  pupil,  and  had  not  quite  attained  to  his 
majority,  when  he  gave  up  his  job,  and,  dividing 
that  begging  was  more  congenial  than  work- 
ing, set  out  to  see  the  world,  at  the  expense  of 
any  who  would  be  prevailed  upon  to  help  him. 

The  particular  part  of  the  world  to  which  he 
turned  was  that  portion  known  to  Americans 
as  "  The  South."  The  chains  of  an  almost  un- 
controllable appetite  now  held  him  tightly. 
Liquor  he  would  and  must  have.  Food  was 
rather  an  after  consideration.  Fc*  some  years 
he  roamed  through  the  country,  tramping  and 
"beating  his  way"  through  sc  en  states.  Sel- 
dom did  thoughts   of  eternity  press  on  his 


f! 


M 


I"  i 

I  It 

h  , 

I!  V' 


38 


The  only  two  Relig^ions* 


spirit.  Never,  perhaps,  did  he  calmly  weigh  his 
condition  as  a  poor  sinner  hastening  on  to  meet 
a  holy  God.  These  things  had  occupied  him  to 
no  great  extent  when  at  home.  They  were  even 
less  to  him  now.  Yet  that  forgotten  One,  so 
grievously  sinned  against,  was  very  gracious  to 
him,  again  and  again  saving  him  from  death 
and — what  must  have  followed — an  eternal 
HELL,  when  circumstances  seemed  to  have  com- 
bined to  destroy  him.  On  one  occasion  he  and 
a  companion  had  stolen  a  ride  on  the  "  Panhan- 
dle Road,"  going  from  Pittsburg  to  Columbus. 
They  were  riding  on  the  bumpers  between  two 
cars.  Rain  began  to  fall,  accompanied  by  heavy 
crashes  of  thunder  and  lurid  lightning.  He  pro- 
posed to  his  partner  to  seek  shelter  in  the  cattle 
car  behind  them.  Crawling  around  on  the  edge 
of  it,  they  crept  through  an  open  side  door.  The 
next  instant  there  was  a  tremendous  crash.  A 
rear-end  collision  had  taken  place  in  the  dark- 
ness. Terrified,  the  tramps  jumped  from  their 
hiding-plaee.  They  found  that  the  end  of  the  box 
car  in  front  had  been  thrown  out  against  the  car 
into  which  they  had  crept.  Had  they  not  changed 
just  when  they  did,  certain  death  must  have 
been  their  portion.  The  train  men  were  cursing 
and  swearing.  He  of  whom  I  write  turned 
away,  shocked  at  profanity  at  such  a  time.  He 
felt  instinctively  that  he  owed  his  life  to  the 
God  who  was  being  blasphemed,  and  for  a  time 
his  conscience  was  somewhat  aroused ;  but,  the 


if»l 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon.   39 

danger  over,  its  voice  was  unheeded.  On  other 
occasions,  not  necessary  to  mention  here,  he  ex- 
perienced the  preserving  grace  of  God  who,  in 
this  sense,  is  "the  saviour  of  all  men,  specially 
of  those  that  believe"  (1  Tim.  iv.  1^). 

Once,  in  those  years  of  dissipation  and  godless- 
ness,  he  wrote  home  to  let  his  parents,  who  had 
mourned  him  as  dead,  know  of  his  whereabouts. 
And  dead  he  was— not  actually,  as  men  speak, 
but  morally  so—"  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins ; " 
for  he  was  "  without  hope  and  without  God  in 
in  the  world."    See  Eph.  ii. 

But  the  God  who  had  given  His  Son  to  die  for 
such  as  he,  had  set  His  hearc  upon  him,  and  the 
day  was  approaching  when  his  very  condition 
was  to  be  the  means  of  his  awakening.    For 
some  little  time  previous  to  the  incident  first 
mentioned,  he  had  been  proving,  in  a  manner 
more  bitter  than  ordinarily,  that "  the  way  of  the 
transgressor  is  hard."    A  few  months  prior  to 
that,  he  had  turned  from  his  aimless  life,for  sev- 
eral weeks,  and  gone  to  work ;  but  toil  he  had 
become  unaccustomed  to;  and  giving  ^t  up,  he 
took  his  wages  and  went  up  the  Mississippi 
river,  from  Bolivar  to  Memphis.    On  the  third 
and  last  night  of  the  trip,  while  sleeping  on  deck 
beneath  the  boilers,  he  was  chloroformed  and 
robbed  by  the  colored  roustabouts.    Upon  re- 
gaining consciousness,  he  found  his  pockets  cut 
open  and  all  his  earnings  gone,  save  a  few  odd 
cents  which  the  thieves  had  overlooked. 


f 

pi 

I-  ■ 

If    '.:  I 

11 


40  The  only  two  Religions. 

From  this  time  on  he  experienced  hardship 
after  hardship.  It  was  God's  way  of  bringing 
him  to  himself.  In  no  other  way,  perhaps,  could 
he  be  broken  down.  At  times  he  would  think 
of  turning  over  a  new  leaf,  and  giving  up  his  bad 
habits;  but  with  no  thought  of  what  was  due 
to  God— simply  for  his  own  betterment. 

On  the  night  referred  to  above,  however,  when 
the  genial  kindness  of  the  mother  and  the  little 
giri  was  shown  him,  a  new  thought  came  to  his 
mind.  These  people  had  been  good  to  him  when 
he  deserved  nothing.  Who  made  them  so? 
Could  It  be  God  ?  It  surely  must  have  been,  else 
why  would  they  have  cared  about  him?  And 
how  had  he  treated  this  "most  blasphemed  and 
yet  indulgent  God"?  Alas,  the  past  years  of 
neglect,  of  transgression,  of  forgetfulness,  what 
a  tale  did  they  tell  of  mercy  slighted  and  of 
grace  despised  1 

It  was  not  yet  the  gospel-God  giving  His  Son 
to  die  for  lost,  guilty  sinners-that  had  spoken 
to  him.    \ong,  weary  months,  even  years,  were 
to  go  by  ere  his  soul  rested  on  this.    But  the  or- 
dinary mercies,  the  dispensations  of  Providence 
the  every-day  evidences   of  divine  care— these 
were  the  things  that  were  used  to  convict  this 
wretched  drinking  tramp  of  his  teirible  wicked- 
ness in  spuming  a  God  who  could  be  so  gracious 
to  those  so  undeserving,  and  who  makes  His 
sun  to  shine  and  His  rain  to  fall  on  just  and  un- 
just aUke.    The  more  he  reflected  on  this,  the 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon*  41 

more  he  felt  a  sense  of  sin  crushing  him.    He 
loathed  himself  as  he  thought  of  his  wretched- 
ness  and  degradation.    He  alone  was  to  blame, 
for  it  might  have  been  so  different.  Like  an  ear- 
lier prodigal,  he  said,  "How  many  hired  serv- 
ants of  my  father  have  bread  enough  and  to 
spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger  I "    Temporally 
and  spiritually  he  had  not  gained,  but  lost,  by 
his  wayward  career ;  and  if  in  time  he  had  found 
life  so  hard,  what  of  eternity?    He  had  "run 
with  the  footmen,"  and  they  had  wearied  him: 
"contend  with  horses,"  he  could  not.    In  the 
land  of  peace— this  world,  in  which  he  hoped  to 
find  his  fill  of  pleasure  and  folly— he  had  become 
wearied  and  sick  of  all  that  Satan  had  used  to 
allure  him  on.    How  would  he  do  "in  the  swell- 
ings of  Jordan  "  ?    Ah,  there  was  something  ter- 
rible in  the  thought  of  some  day  having  to  leave 
the  shores  of  Time  behind  him,  to  buffet  with 
and  be  buffeted  by  the  icy  billows  of  death, 
sweeping  him  on  to  eternity'    God  must  be 
faced.    His  own  evil  record  must  be  met ;  and, 
without  a  Bible  to  tell  him  so,  he  knew  that  an 
eternal  hell  awaited  such  as  he. 

He  went  on  from  Louisville  to  a  town  in  Ohio. 
Here  he  grew  so  miserable  that  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  something  must  be  done.  He  was 
going  on  to  judgment.  He  must  call  a  halt,  and 
seek  to  put  matters  right  with  the  God  he  had 
sinned  against  so  long.  He  gave  up  his  vaga- 
bondish  life,  and  went  to  work.    His  craving 


42 


The  only  two  Religions* 


li 


Ei    ,1 


for  liquor  he  sought  to  conquer.  He  fought 
hard  to  be  free,  and  in  some  measure  succeeded. 
He  tried  to  do  right  to  atone  for  the  past,  and 
hoped  God  would  be  merciful ;  but  he  was  in  ag- 
ony of  mind  still.  At  last  he  decided  to  see  a 
minister,  in  order  to  learn  how  he  might  put 
away  his  sins.  He  sought  out  a  clergyman.  A 
very  good  and  sincere  person  he  was,  no  doubt, 
but  evidently  blind  to  the  need  of  a  soul  and  ig- 
norant of  the  gospel  of  God.  Ushered  into  his 
presence,  the  erstwhile  tramp  broke  out  with— 
"  I'm  lost,  and  I  want  to  be  saved.  For  a  year 
I've  been  in  anguish.  I  cannot  sleep.  If  I  die  as 
I  am,  I'll  have  an  awful  eternity.  Can  you  tell 
me  what  I  must  do  ?  " 

The  minister  was  interested,  and  really  anx- 
ious to  help.  As  a  first  step,  he  advised  him  to 
join  a  class  in  the  Sunday-school  and  learn  the 
Scriptures.  He  did  as  he  was  told.  He  became 
a  regular  attendant,  and  for  a  time  conscience 
was  lulled  to  rest ;  but  true  peace  with  God  he 
knew  not.  When  the  minister  thought  he  was 
ready  for  it,  he  was  told  to  learn  the  catechism, 
and  thus  be  prepared  to  join  the  church.  He 
had  a  bad  memory,  but  he  pored  over  his  task. 
For  six  months  he  went  to  the  lectures  on  it. 
He  managed  to  memorize  most  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments at  last;  the  minister  telling  him 
God  would  be  satisfied  if  he  learned  as  much  of 
it  as  he  could.  But  this  gave  him  no  peace ;  for 
what  comfort  could  the  law,  which  is  the  "min- 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon*    43 


' 


istry  of  condemnation"  (2  Cor.  iii.  9),  and  "the 
strength  of  sin"  (1  Cor.  xv.  56),  minister  to  a 
man  already  groaning  beneath  the  weight  of 
the  very  sin  that  the  commandment  only  made 
"exceeding  sinful"  (Rom.  vii.  13)?  Willing  to 
do  all  he  was  told,  he  was  baptized  and  joined 
the  church,  and  then  took  the  sacrament  as  a 
further  means  of  grace ;  but  still  he  was  with- 
out peace.  He  joined  the  "  Christian  Endeavor 
Society  "  also,  and  sought  to  be  faithful  in  the 
discharge  of  all  his  religious  duties.  For  over  a 
year  this  was  kept  up.  On  one  occasion  he 
traveled  forty  miles  to  be  present  on  sacramen- 
tal Sunday  to  partake  of  the  bread  and  wine, 
that  told  of  a  crucified  Christ,  as  yet  unrevealed 
to  his  soul. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  had  been  no 
change  in  his  outward  life.  There  had  been  a 
most  marked  one.  He  gave  his  employers  faith- 
ful service;  mastered,  bit  by  bit,  the  appetite 
that  had  well-iiigh  ruined  him  body  and  soul ; 
kept  company  only  with  people  of  high  moral 
character,  in  place  of  the  dissolute  companions 
of  former  days ;  and  was  outwardly  a  very  dif- 
ferent man  to  what  he  had  been.  Alas  I  it  was 
yet  outside  work  with  him.  Inwardly  he  was 
still  ignorant  of  the  grace  of  God,  even  as  when 
ordered  oflf  the  streets  of  Louisville  as  disgrace- 
ful to  himself  and  dangerous  to  the  public  peace. 
He  had  yet  to  learn  that  "Except  a  man  be 
bom  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 


44  The  only  two  Religions. 

The  difference  between  his  past  and  the  then 
present  was  this:  Before,  he  had  been  an  im- 
moral sinner ;  now,  he  was  a  moral  sinner :  he 
had  been  a  cursing,  blaspheming  sinner;  now, 
he  was  a  prayer-saying  and  hy  mn-singing  sin- 
ner. He  was  once  an  idle,  vicious  sinner ;  now, 
he  was  a  hard-working,  religious  sinner.  He 
had  been  a  sinner  in  his  own  proper  place— out- 
side the  circle  of  those  who  were,  in  name  at 
least.  Christians;  now,  he  was  a  baptized, 
church-going,  sacrament-taking  sinner,  but  still 
a  Christ-ignoring  sinner;  or,  if  Christ  had  any 
place  at  all  in  his  thoughts,  it  was,  at  best,  that 
of  a  crutch  to  a  lame  man— a  mere  helper  to 
better  himseii. 

As  he  had  no  peace,  spite  of  all  his  earnestness 
and  punctilious  attendance  upon  the  various 
means  of  grace  he  knew  of,  he  again  repaired  to 
his  minister.  It  was  suggested  that  possibly  he 
was  not  devoted  enough.  Let  him  give  freely 
of  his  money  to  the  support  of  the  church,  for 
"the  Lord  loveth  a  cheerful  giver,"  and  doubt- 
less blessing  would  follow.  As  an  added  incen- 
tive, he  was  made  a  deacon;  and  it  thus  de- 
volved on  him  to  assist  in  collecting  the  pastor's 
salary.  He  was  now  actively  employed  in 
church  work,  which  he  took  up  faithfully;  but 
to  peace  with  God  he  was  still  a  stranger. 

This  went  on  for  about  a  couple  of  years, 
when  he  made  a  visit  to  his  old  home  in  Penn- 
sylvania.   He  was  walking  one  evening  down 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon*    45 

the  streets  of  Reading,  when  he  was  attracted 
to  a  crowd  of  people  gathered  about  a  street 
preacher.  There  was  a  ring  of  confidence  and 
assurance  about  this  man's  address  that  our 
friei  d  the  deacon  (for  we  can  call  him  the  tramp 
no  longer)  had  not  been  used  to.  His  theme 
was  God's  love  to  poor  sinners.  He  dwelt  at 
some  length  on  the  grand  evidence  of  it  in  the 
giving  of  His  Son  to  die,  "that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."  The  unhappy  deacon  listened  at- 
tentively as  God's  way  of  salvation  through 
simple  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  clearly 
set  forth.  "  Not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast:"  "For  by  grace  ye  are  saved  through 
faith ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves :  it  is  the  gift 
of  God  "  (Eph.  ii.  8),  were  the  words  which  rang 
from  the  preacher's  lips.  This  was  the  first 
gleam  of  the  true  light  that  had  so  far  shone 
into  his  darkened  soul.  He  began  to  realize 
that  not  all  his  earnestness  and  religiousness, 
his  liberality  and  his  reformation,  nor  yet  any- 
thing that  he  could  add  to  them,  had  brought, 
or  could  bring,  him  one  step  nearer  salvation. 
He  had  not  advanced  by  all  his  eflforts  a  hair's- 
breadth  in  all  those  two  weary  years.  The  dea- 
con had  been  as  ignorant  of  God's  salvation 
even  as  the  tramp.  But  he  was  learning  that 
lesson  ;  and  it  is  a  great  one.  They  were,  per- 
haps, far  from  agreeable  truths;  but  truths 
they  were  nevertheless,  as  the  questioning  reader 


46 


The  only  two  Religions. 


'1 
■  t 


I  5 

if 


'i 


f!  1 


i  I 
I 


i'S. 


can  see  by  referring  to  the  third  chapter  of  the 
epistle  to  the  Romans. 

But  if  the  deacon  found  out  that  he  could  do 
nothing  to  save  himself,  he  also  found  out  that 

"All  the  doing  has  been  done, 
As  God  has  clearly  shown, 
When,  by  the  offering  of  His  Son, 
His  purpose  He  made  known." 

The  result  of  the  preaching,  which  was  listened 
to  for  several  evenings,  was  that  he  trusted  ia 
Christ,  and  ceased  from  his  own  works.  Thus 
the  deacon  had  become  a  Christian.  He  was 
still  weak ;  there  was  much  that  he  did  not  un- 
derstand ;  but  one  thing  he  was  clear  about,  viz., 
that  God  had  loved  him  enough  to  give  His  Son 
to  die  for  him.  Surely,  then,  he  could  trust  Him 
for  the  rest.  With  this  thought  filling  his  mind, 
he  returned  to  Ohio.  He  did  not  yet  know  the 
full  meaning  of  "peace  with  God,"  but  his  soul 
rested  on  His  love  as  shown  in  Christ;  and 
more  was  to  follow. 

Shortly  after  his  return,  an  evangelist  came 
to  his  town  to  hold  "  Union  meetings."  He  was 
cordially  received  by  the  various  churches,  and 
the  services  opened  with  a  great  deal  of  enthusi- 
asm, and  numbers  professed  to  find  blessing.  It 
was  not  long,  however,  until  a  strong  under- 
current of  dissatisfaction  set  in.  Ministers  and 
church-members  began  to  become  angry  and 
alarmed,  and  finally  he  was  turned  out  of  the 


:mw^ 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon*     47 

pulpits,  and  the  "Union  meetings"  were  at  an 
end.  The  reason  is  simply  given.  He  preached 
that  all  are  on  one  plane  before  God.  Men 
might  make  distinctions;  He  made  none.  All 
are  lost  and  guilty,  and  so  wretched  is  their 
plight  that  they  can  do  nothing  to  save  them- 
selves ;  that  God  knew  that ;  in  love  He  had  sent 
Christ ;  Christ  had  done  it  all ;  now,  therefore, 
all  who  believe  in  Christ  are  justified  from  all 
THINGS,  and  can  know  it  here  and  now,  on  the 
authority  of  the  word  of  God.  This,  the  same 
doctrine  as  the  street  preacher's,  was  unpalat- 
able teaching  for  that  highly  respectable  com- 
munity, and  they  would  have  no  more  of  it. 

A  number  of  weary  workers  for  salvation, 
however,  had  obeyed  the  gospel  and  accepted 
the  invitation  to 

"  Cast  your  deadly  doing  down, 
Down  at  Jesus'  feet ; 
Stand  in  Him,  in  Him  alone, 
Gloriously  complete." 

These  we-e  not  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the 
scanman  dismissal  of  the  strange  preacher  with 
nse:  rsnponular  message ;  so,  meetings  of  a  more 
pnvase  nature  were  held  in  various  homes. 

Tbe  deacon  attended  these  regularly,  and, 
kai^riss  rested  in  the  cross  for  pardon  before,  he 
tiomr  saw  that  he  was  not  only  forgiven,  but 
tmir  mstihed ;  the  judgment  he  deserved  had 
baen  tally  borne,  and  ended  in  the  judgment  of 


48 


'  1 


The  only  two  ReBgtons. 


Christ  on  the  cross  •  h^ 

-c'ea«d  of  aa    rht  ^«  ""w-  the«fo„=.  fi^ 

«■'  only  authority  Z  tL        ^'»"™«  from 
word.  "^y  "  the  case-God's  own 

About  this  time  a  Km 

•'Boston,"  but ^hout  2  P^P"  postmarked 
the  sender  upoThTJ^T^^  or  address  of 
"ail-    rt  was^  copHf^" '""  *'"-<>»S>.  the 
Pbacb,  containing  Tn  arH  I       *^=«^ngm  of 
Certainty,  and  ^j^y^"^;'.^  -"««J  ''Safety, 
«ous  tract,  he  saw  tha^?,        ^"^  tWs  pre- 
fied  for  the  p„senl  K^^f,  ""^  °"'^  J-^^" 
had  etemal  life.    "  j  !;"*  !,*^a%  saved,  for  he 
a°d  they  shaU  never  ^'^h     *"!!?  **'™al  life, 

2"  P'-ck  then,  out  ofT  h'anT'  vT  .''"^'  ^^ 
Now  his  cup  of  joy  was  fi.ll  7>.  '^f''"*-  28)- 
'-th  God  was  hii/he "ould  say?    "*^  ^^ 

"^^l  t?'?  ""  »'"''«  "«  Cross 
Can  shake  the  peace  it  gave 

Whjch  tells  me  Christ  haf„«er*^ 
Nor  ever  left  the  grav"*** 

4X7Xf  ,f -ate^hortiy  after,  „a.i- 
Vmpathy  with  bissuJ.^^  ^^  "°t  in 
q"<»t)y  returned  to  Rear'''"^'-    «*  ^ubse- 

*»  New  York,  with°th:^°^~"?.*°  ^°  °" 
■ ^^^I'urpose  of  umtmgwith 

«  mi   .  ^ ■ . 


*«>  ^owuJd^H'h^  ^f'^pfnl  paper,  which  hmi  h^     u, 


k   !) 


The  Tramp  who  became  a  Deacon.   49 

a  society  there  of  which  he  had  heard.  It  was 
represented  as  being  both  pentecostal  and  apos- 
tohc:  Its  leaders  were  said  to  be  men  of  marvel, 
ous  faith  and  personal  holiness,  who  could  heal 
the  sick  and  perform  various  other  wonders 

But  God  had  something  better  than  this  for 
him;  for  in  Reading  he  once  more  found  upon 
the  streets  the  man  who  had  before  told  him  of 
God  s  love  and  grace.     He  gladly  heard  him 
again,  attending  indoor  and  outdoor  meetings 
for  some  weeks.    In  this  time  he  made  a  further 
wondertul  discovery:  he  found  he  was  not  only 
a  justified  man,  the  possessor  of  eternal  life  but 
he  was,  from  the  moment  he  believed  the  gospel 
a  member  of  the  only  cbureb  be  eould  find  any- 
thing  about  in  Scripture,  called  "the  Church 
which  IS  His  body."  of  which  the  Lord  Jesus  is 
the  one  Head.    He  learned  that  upon  believing 
the  gospel  he  had  received  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
had  thereby  been  made  a  member  of  this  Church 
for  by  one  Spirit  are  ye  all  baptized  into  one 
body."  (See  1  Cor.  xii. )    He  at  once  saw  the  in- 
congruity of  joining  anything,  inasmuch  as  he 
was  already  a  member  of  the  Church  of  God. 

XT     ^^5^^^°^^  relinquished  the  idea  of  going  to 
New  York.  6      5" 

From  this  time  on,  the  word  of  God  became 
his  daily  companion  and  his  almost  constant 
study.  He  saw  from  it  the  divine  principle  of 
gathering  to  the  precious  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Chnst  alone,  in  the  confession  of  his  mem- 


50 


The  only  two  Relfefons, 


be«bip  in  the  body  of  Christ,  in  common  with 
all  true  Chnstians;  "For  where  two  or  th™. 
«e  gathered  together  in  My  name  there  ^T 
m  the  m.dst  o_f  them"  (Matt"^  xvir20)       "°  ' 

take^hestramentS  '''''  °°*  "°''*° 

!f  ttTT  ^^^«fi-«ti-.  and  r^de^tTon"' 


1    J 


#^ 


51 


''RELIGION  RUNS  IN  OUR  FAMILY, 

SIRI" 


WE  were  speeding  across  the  plateaus  of  Col- 
orado. My  little  son  had  taken  a  pack- 
age of  gospel  papers  and  gone  through 
the  sleeping-car,  distributing  them  to  the  jaded 
passengers.  On  my  way  to  the  platform  shortly 
afterwards,  a  lady  accosted  me  with  the  words, 
"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  I  think  it  was  your 
child  who  gave  me  this  tract;  was  it  not?" 
Replying  in  the  affirmative,  she  looked  up 
brightly  and  said,  "You  can't  imagine  how 
pleased  I  was  to  know  there  are  other  religious 
people  on  board  besides  myself.  It  is  always  a 
pleasure  to  meet  those  who  are  engaged  in  do- 
ing good." 

She  invited  me  to  sit  down  in  her  section  to 
chat  together  upon  matters  religious  and  phil- 
anthropic. After  running  on  for  some  little 
time,  telling  of  her  church  connection  and  the 
various  good  works  in  which  she  was  engaged, 
she  said,  with  great  satisfaction,  "  It  is  so  nice 
to  feel  you  are  of  some  use  in  the  worid,  and 
that  you  love  the  Church  and  the  Sabbath.  So 
many  people  seem  to  have  neither  time  nor 
taste  for  these  things." 


52  The  only  two  RcfigJons. 

"Your  last  remark,"  I  now  put  in,  "is  verv 
true  indeed.  May  I  ask  if  you  have  been  con- 
verted yourself  ?  " 

Her  face  expressed  the  surprise  she  felt  at  such 
a  question,  put  so  abruptly.  She  looked  slightly 
^^^u  ^^,'^^"  r  embarrassed,  as  she  replied: 

Why,  I  ye  always  been  interested  in  these 
things.  My  father  was  a  class-leader,  and  I 
have  an  uncle  and  two  brothers  who  are  aU 
clergymen." 

"  Indeed  I "  I  answered.  "  And  have  you  been 
converted  yourself  ?  " 

"You  do  not  seem  to  understand,"  was  the 
gneyed  reply,  "these  things  have  always  inter- 
ested  me.  My  father  was  a  class-leader  for 
many  years,  and  my  uncle  and  two  brothers  are 
earnest  clergymen." 

"Yes,  madam,  I  understood  all  that;  but  I 
mean,  have  you  been  truly  converted  to  God 
yourself?" 

Looking  at  me  in  a  bewildered  manner,  she 
said,     I  gues»  It  is  I  who  do  not  understand 
you.    I  thought,  when  I  told  you  of  my  father 
and  my  relatives  who  are  clergymen,  you  would 
see  that  religion  runs  in  our  family,  sir  ' " 

It  was  said  with  such  evident  sincerity  that 
for  a  moment  or  two  I  was  at  a  loss  for  a  word 
and  could  scarcely  forbear  smiling.  Her  simple' 
earnest  manner  appealed  to  me ;  and  yet  it  was 
clear  to  me  that  she  was  building  on  a  founda- 
tion of  smkmg  sand. 


Religion  runs  in  our  Family,  Sirl    53 


4< 


i 


But  have  you  not  read,"  I  asked,  at  last, 
"the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "Except 
ye  repent  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,  I  remember  the  words,"  she  an- 
swered, in  a  dazed  kind  of  a  way ;  "but  in  a  re- 
ligious family  like  ours — do  yo-a  think  they  have 
the  same  application  as  to  others  ?  " 

Faithfully  as  I  knew  how,  I  sought  to  show 
her  that  religion  was  not  Christ.  A  moral  and 
religious  training,  especially  if  the  Bible  be  the 
text-book  of  instruction,  is  of  inestimable  value 
in  the  bringing  up  of  a  child ;  but  morality  and 
religion  do  not  save  sinners  for  eternity.  Were 
it  so,  what  place  would  there  be  for  the  cross  of 
Christ  ?  What  would  be  the  value  of  the  blood 
of Jesus  ? 

Religion  may  be  handed  down  from  parent  to 
child.  To  use  the  lady's  words,  it  may  run  in 
the  family.  But  new  birth  is  a  very  different 
thing.  Grace  is  not  inherited.  To  every  soul  of 
man  the  words  are  addressed, "  Ye  must  be  bom 
again." 

In  John  i.  12,  13  we  read  of  three  ways  by 
which  people  cannot  become  children  of  God. 
It  says,  "As  many  as  received  Him"  (that  is, 
Jesus),  "to  them  gave  He  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His 
name :  which  were  bom,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  \  11  of  man,  but 
of  God." 


!^i 


54  The  only  two  Religions. 

To  this  I  drew  the  attention  of  the  lady  in 
whose  family  religion  ran. 

First,  salvation,  or  new  birth,  is  "not  of 
blood."  The  child  of  godly  pamits  is  not "  bom 

lTr\^f'\f^  ^.°"""  ^'^'^  ^  clergyman  con- 
tend. Like  all  other  sons  of  Adam,  he  is  bom 
m  sm,  and  needs  to  be  bora  anew. 

Second,  it  is  not  "of  the  will  of  the  flesh  " 
Human  resolutions,  vows,  determinations,  tum- 
ing  over  new  leaves,  and  such  like,  will  never 
effect  new  birth.  The  flesh  can  rise  no  higher 
than  Itself.  As  "that  which  is  bora  of  the  flesh 
IS  flesh,  so  all  that  springs  from  it,  whether  it 
be  religion  or  aught  else,  is  but  fleshly  too 

Third,  It  IS  not  "of  the  will  of  man."    Neither 
church,  priest,  nor  clergyman,  with  all  the  ordi- 
nances  combined,  can  make  one  a  child  of  God 
It  IS  beyond  the  power  of  the  hoHest  man  on 
earth  to  re-create  one  soul. 

How,  then,  can  it  be  brought  about?  The 
last  phrase  gives  the  answer.  It  is  "of  God  " 
He  works  through  His  Word.  Believing  that 
Word,  trasting  what  He  has  said,  the  man  is 
regenerated. 

To  the  lady  on  the  train  all  this  seemed  new 
and  strange;  and  as  I  left  her,  she  remarked. 
Well  I  have  never  heard  it  put  this  way  be- 
fore.   I  must  think  it  over."    What  the  result 
was,  the  coming  day  will  reveal. 

Undoubtedly  she  was  but  one  of  a  large  class 
who  have  never  learaed  to  distinguish  between 


Religion  runs  in  our  Family^  Sir!    55 

religion  and  Christ  as  a  ground  of  hope.  All 
who  rest  on  religion,  however  earnest  and  or- 
thodox, will  find,  in  the  day  of  the  coming 
storm,  that  they  have  been  building  a  house  on 
shifting  sands.  When  the  rains  descend  and  the 
floods  come,  the  fall  mu^t  be  great;  and  it  will 
be  too  late  to  choose  a  more  secure  foundation. 

Those  who  rest  on  Christ,  and  stay  their  souls 
upon  His  words,  "the  word  of  the  truth  of  the 
gospel,"  are  building  upon  the  Rock  that  never 
can  be  shaken.  Creeds  of  men  will  change  and 
fall:  human  systems  will  pass  away ;  but  Christ 
abides  eternally— the  resting-place  of  all  who 
trust  His  love  and  grace. 

Even  though  religion  may  run  in  the  reader's 
family,  do  not,  I  beseech  you,  trust  to  the  piety 
of  godly  ancestors  or  the  devotion  of  loved  rela- 
tives. Make  sure  you  trust  in  Christ  for  your- 
self. He  gave  Himself  for  our  sins,  and  through 
Him  "all  that  believe  are  justified  from  all 
things." 

Rest  not  till  you  can  sing  with  assurance 
founded  on  the  testimony  of  the  word  of  God, 

«'  On  Christ  the  solid  Rock  I  stand : 
All  other  ground  is  sinking  sand." 


M 


56 


The  only  two  Religions^ 


The   Dying   Gambles 


"He  died  for  sinners,  and  that 


5'- 


ht 


's  me  exactly." 


^HILE   holding  gospel   meetings  fn   the 

|/.«       own  of  Albuquerque,  N.  M.^^eVere 

told  one  morning  of  a  man  who  was 

victionrirtVe7o^d^a'"^""'V-^  ^°" 
through  the  P^thiTon^i^st^ref  Xl^^ 
formant  told  us  that  he  was  one  who  neve" 

deep  distress  about^h^s    ou7    ko  'or'^"  '"^ 
intelhVenoP  r^^«  K.  ,  "^^'^^  cheering 

mteiirgence  can  be  conveycd.to  one  whose  l,Pn,2 

js  m  the  work  of  evangelisation,  than  that  God 
has  been  using  the  mes.nge  to  the  avv.L 
or  the  conversion  of  sinners-  so  cnvi?^ 

forwhatwehadheard,Tr:M^Tnritn: 


!»■• 


The  Dying  Gambler. 


57 


over  to  the  house  in  which  the  convicted  man 
was  living. 

We  found  him  in  deep  distress.  He  was  a 
consumptive  who  had  come  to  Albuquerque 
from  the  Indian  Territory  in  search  of  a  climate 
where  his  disease  would  be  more  readily  checked. 
But  it  was  easy  to  see  that  his  days  on  earth 
were  fast  drawing  to  a  close.  In  broken  accents 
he  told  us  his  story.  He  had  been  a  most  un- 
godly person.  Gambling  was  his  occupation, 
and  all  its  attendant  evils  had  held  him  in  their 
snare.  His  had  been  "  the  pace  that  kills,"  and 
now  he  was  reaping  the  bitter  fruits  in  his  own 
body  of  a  life  spent  in  reckless  dissipation  in  the 
service  of  the  devil.  The  reason  why  he  had, 
although  awake  to  his  wretched  physical  con- 
dition, avoided  all  Christians  who  might  have 
been  able  to  help  him,  now  came  out.  He  real- 
ized that  he  was  dying.  He  was  in  dread  of 
death  with  the  awful  judgment  which  he  knew 
must  follow.  But  he  had  long  since  concluded 
that  there  was  no  hope  for  him.  He  was  too 
far  gone  for  the  mercy  of  God  to  be  extended  to 
him.  His  sins  were  crying  for  vengeance.  There 
was  no  solace  to  be  expected  in  religious  meet- 
ings, so  he  had  kept  away,  as  it  only  aggravated 
his  mind  to  see  others  happy  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  while  for  him 
there  v;as  nought  but  the  "blackness  of  dark- 
ness" forever. 

Through  the  goodness  of  God  he  had  been  led 


58  The  only  two  Religions. 

to  listen  to  the  preaching  on  the  corner;  and 
for  the  first  time  he  began  to  realize  that  there 
might  be  mercy  even  for  him.    But  accompany- 
ing this  faint  hope  had  come  a  deeper  sense  of 
his  own  iniquity,  so  that  he  was  tossed  about 
between  hope  and  despair.    We  read  the  word 
of  God  and  conversed  with  him,  but  he  was 
quite  gloomy,  though  he  said,  "I'm  praying; 
and  I've  made  up  ray  mind  that  if  I  have  to  go 
to  hell,  I'll  go  praying."  Earnestly  we  sought  to 
impress  upon  his  mind  that  salvation  was  God's 
free  gift,  offered  "without  money  and  without 
price  "  to  all  who  confessed  their  sins,  and  who, 
as  guilty,  lost  men  and  women,  were  ready  to 
receive  it  for  nothing.  He  did  not  seem  to  grasp 
it,  but  frequently  remarked,  "I  won't  give  up 
praying." 

It  is  hard  for  man  to  realize  the  perfect  free- 
dom of  the  offer  made  by  the  God  of  all  grace 
to  needy  sinners.  It  is  neither  by  prayer  nor 
by  works  of  Luman  righteousness  that  salva- 
tion is  obtained.  The  believing  sinner,  saved 
by  grace  divine,  gladly  owns : 

"Coald  my  zeal  no  langnor  know, 
Conld  my  tears  forever  flow, 
These  for  sin  conld  not  atone ; 
Thou  mnst  aave,  and  Thon  alone." 

Jesus  it  was  who  did  all  the  doing;  there  re- 
mains nothing  for  the  repentant  sinner  but  the 
taking-. 


.*!'- 


The  Dying  Gambler* 


S9 


But  the  very  freedom  of  it  all  seemed  to  stum- 
ble the  poor  dying  gambler.  He  promised  to 
be  out  to  the  meeting  however ;  and  so,  after 
praying  that  he  might  be  led  to  see  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  finished  work  of  Christ,  we  left 

him. 

In  accordance  with  his  promise  he  was  pres- 
ent at  night.  He  seemed  to  listen  eagerly,  but 
with  a  look  of  bewilderment  that  implied  in- 
ward anxiety  and  confusion  of  mind.  Upon  the 
conclusion  of  the  meeting  we  handed  him  several 
gospel  booklets,  which  he  promised  to  read. 

The  following  evening  he  came  to  the  hall, 
and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  some  great  change 
had  taken  place.    After  the  preaching  he  spoke 

to  Mr.  M and  brokenly  told  what  had  that 

day  transpired.    His  voice  was  so  weakened  by 
the  inroads  of  disease  that  he  could  only  speak 
in  short  whispers.    He  said,  "This  afternoon 
—I  lay  on  the  bed— I  took  the  tracts  and  tried 
to  read.— My  aunt  came  in— I  asked  her  to  read 
them  to  me.-Every  time  she  came  to  a  verse 
from  the  Bible— I  said,  'Look  it  up.'— She  said, 
'Tain't  necessary.'-^ I  said 'It  is.— I  can't  af- 
ford to  make  any  mistake— I  must  be  sure.'  She 
got  a  Bible  and  looked  them  up— They  were  all 
just  the  same.— At  last  I  saw  it— I  said, '  That's 
it— Christ  died  for  sinners— that's  me  exactly. 
—He  shed  His  blood  for  sinners— He  saves  all 
who  trust  Him— I  can  trust  Him  now— He  died 
for  sinners-That's  me.'-I  felt  happy  then— 1 


60 


The  only  two  RcHgteni. 


'H. 


kn«.  it  wa.  aU  right-I  k„ow  He  won't  ca.t 

from  an  sf„.  '""   "'"  ^"""^  "°°d  dea««. 
Wh"n  wnrntTo"^"',!-  ^'^^^  *°°''  P'"- 

•«med  that  strength  had  1^„  s°v.n  Wm  / 

get  out  where  he  miKht  hear  thf 

then  he  was  bereft  of  ft  a,I    Mr  tl"??',',""' 

that  he  con,d  barel/^arhL^  rrdoTstr/ 
StelL  r^7  *""■"'"«  ■"■"  "'"'  doubts   W^ 

sx'°^-rjtrr:;:rvtti^^^^ 

word  ofHim  who  cannot  lie 
Three  days  later  he  passed  away.    Just  befor. 

aenghts  to  show  mercj  to  the  vilest. 

wnrH         r -^""'^  "'^^""  ^^  ^o"ld  address  a 
word  m  closing  this  brief  account.    WheSera 


The  Dying  Gambler. 


6t 


sinner  of  the  deepest  dye,  cmshed  beneath  the 
weight  of  the  iniquities  of  a  Ufe-time  spent  in 
high-handed  rebellion  against  the  God  who 
created  you,  and  who,  though  you  have  neither 
known  nor  acknowledged  Him,  has  yet  been 
your  preserver  through  all  your  devious  paths ; 
or  whether  you  may  be  generally  accounted 
moral  and  religious,  but  are  still  guilty  of  that 
greatest  of  all  sins— the  rejection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ— "unto  you  is  the  word  of  this 
salvation  sent."  For  you  God's  blessed  Sen 
died  upon  the  cross,  having  borne  the  judgment 
due  to  sin ;  and  now,  through  the  work  He  there 
accomplished,  you,  like  the  poor  gambler,  may 
be  "justified  from  all  things"  and  prepared 
to  enjoy  an  eternity  of  bliss  in  His  own  pres- 
ence. 

Christ   received,  means  eternal  Joy;    Christ 
rejected,  means  eternal  misery. 


62 


J'' 


*■• 


MICAH'S  REUGION; 

OR, 

REFDRMATIONBNOT  SALVATION. 

T^tffH  ?*•  **' '''"'*""•  ""t  o-'y  "any  beau- 
1     t,ful  stones  and  incident,  whfch  ilStrat^ 

that  ^iTc^n^TZT'--  *"'  -'™^- 

the  same  way  fel«  -W.„      ^r^  **/°"^'' " 
monnt  EphrTm.  *■"  '^""^  °^  ^''<^  <>f 

fore^is  rer™,;""*"*''.  "  *°  ^  past  life  be- 

Nor  was  he  a  mere  robber  of  the  li^  I     'I' 
y  in  an  unsettled  connt^  Kke  P»  W       °"''.^- 

days  ofthejndges;  bnth?had  ^bwl"*''* 

those  times.    This  I^Tm^CT^:'  ™"  » 
and  put  away  to  use  forSf"*  '*°''  '^^°°'  ""^ 
Upon  discovering  the  theft-   +1,-     u 

tion,  she  called^on^G^  to  c^.^  The  tv'r^.^" 
had  been  so  base  aa  to  ste'^irtf^'f  ^° 


Micah's  Religion* 


63 


then,  evidently  considering  that  the  money  was 
gone  forever,  she  "wholly  dedicated  it  unto  the 
Lord  "  if  it  should  ever  be  found  and  returned 
to  her. 

Micah's  fears  were  apparently  aroused  by  his 
mother's  curses.  In  an  ignorant  and  supersti- 
tious age,  he  dreaded  being  thus  made  an  object 
of  Divine  vengeance.  There  is  no  hint  that  he 
repented  towards  God  of  his  sin.  There  is  no 
record  of  his  bringing  Him  into  account  at  all. 
But  in  verse  2  we  learn  that,  tormented  by  the 
fear  of  condign  judgment,  he  went  to  his  mother 
and  returned  the  money,  minting  a  clean  breast 
of  his  sin  tc  '  er.  "He  said  unto  his  mother, 
The  eleven  hundred  shekels  of  silver  that  were 
taken  from  thee,  about  which  thou  cursedst,  and 
spakest  of  also  in  mine  ears,  behold,  the  silver 
is  with  me;  /  took  it.  And  his  mother  said. 
Blessed  be  thou  of  the  Lord,  my  son." 

Now  all  this  might,  to  a  superficial  reader,  ap- 
pear very  right  and  proper.  Micah  had  sinned 
against  his  mother.  To  his  mother  he  confessed 
his  sin.  He  had  robbed  her.  He  restored  what 
he  had  robbed.  More  than  that,  his  future  life 
shows  that  he  was  a  truly  reformed  man.  He 
had  turned  over  a  new  leaf,  as  people  say. 
What  more  could  be  asked  ? 

Ah,  a  great  deal  more  was  required  to  put  Mi- 
cah right  with  God,  as  well  as  with  his  mother. 
Sin,  is  not  merely  against  our  fellow-creatures : 
it  is  primarily  against  our  Creator  Himself;  and 


ft! 


64 


41 


.?*» 


The  only  two  Religions. 


againstUriahandBathsheh^L       r     ^  ^° 

e.n  in  Uy  :^U'-^lT:^i  He  o'Z ^ 
sin  agamst  God  above  all  else.   Hels  a  t^? 
P«>tantmad;  and  so  he  iust  fies  Pod  .^"""" 
demns  himself,  as  the  n-a'™  1  u  ■''°''" 

his  trespass  offering?„to  the  Lord  "'""^^ 

He«  we  have  not  merely  the  wrofg  ri5;Sd 


Micah's  Religfion. 


65 


fn 
m 
n 
»t 

is 
e 


that  was  done  to  one's  neighbor,  but,  what  was 
of  infinitely  more  importance,  the  trespass  was 
put  right  before  God  on  the  ground  of  the  oflfer- 
ing  and  the  shedding  of  blood.  An  atonement 
was  required.  By  blood  alone  could  it  be  made. 
Micah  ignored  the  blood,  and  neglected  the  offer- 
ing. His  highest  thought  was  putting  matters 
straight  with  his  mother.  God  is  not  brought 
into  his  affairs  at  all. 

This  is  the  root  evil  of  a  great  mass  of  relig- 
ious profession  at  the  present  day.    The  blood 
of  atonement  is  ignored,  or  despised.    But  God 
has  said, "  When  I  see  the  blood,  I  will  pass  over 
you."    Nothing  less  than  this  will  satisfy  Him. 
Where,  then,  is  that  blood  to  be  found  ?    The 
guilty  sinner  is  not  called  upon  now  to  procure 
an  offering,  and  to  bring  it  to  a  human  priest. 
God  has  Himself  provided  the  Victim,  in  the  per- 
son of  His  own  spotless,  unblemished  Son.    He 
is  the  true  Trespass  Offering.    In  the  sixty -ninth 
psalm  we  see  Him  taking  that  place,  and  hear 
His  cry  in  verse  4,  while  suffering  the  awful  ig- 
nominy of  the  cross:  "I  restored  that  which  I 
took  not  away."    God's  holy  judgment  fell  upon 
Him  v/hen  He  gave  Himself  for  our  sins.    Oh, 
how  guilty,  then,  is  the  man  who,  despising  this 
one  offering,  setting  at  naught  all  His  suffering 
and  anguish  for  sin,  essays  to  reach  God  in  any 
other  way  than  by  the  cross  of  Christ  I 

To  pay  one's  debts ;  to  forsake  evil  ways ;  to 
turn  from  wicked  companionships;  to  become 


n 


f' 


|». 


<•« 


66  The  only  two  Religions. 

them  combined,  can  ever  put  away  sin.  It  is 
the  b  bod  of  Jesus,  and  the  blood  alone,  "in  aU 
Its  solitary  dignity,"  that  can  do  that 

How  plainly  then,  do  we  see  in  Micah  a  merely 
reformed  man  I  Not  a  converted  man;  not  a 
repentant  sinner;  but  a  man  who  gives  up  his 
iniquitous  ways  only  to  fall  into  worse  ones 
-becoming  an  idolater,  as  we  shall  see  fur- 
ther on. 

His  poor  mother  was  as  easily  satisfied  with 
his  sham  ccrversion  as  are  many  good  people 
nowadays.     Delighted,  she  cries,  '.files^d  b^ 
thou  of  the  Lord  my  son  I"    She  is  as  ready 
now  to  bless  as  she  was  to  curse  before     But 
remembering  her  vow.  she  adds.  "I  had  wholl^ 
dedicated  the  silver  unto  the  Lord  from  my 
hand  for  my  son.  to  make  a  graven  image  and 
a  molten  image :  now  therefore  will  I  restore  it 
unto  thee  "  ( ver.  3).  "'^^  ** 

of^u^y^^'l'  '^'"^  *^^'°-    ^^'  ^«  a  sample 
of  multitudes  of  pious-speaking  people  who  have 

no  sense   of  what  really  suits  God.  but  who 
fancy  He  is  "altogether  such  an  one  as  thysSf  ° 
This  class  an  ever  ready  to  make  pledges  and 
promises  hoping  thereby  to  propitiate  His  fa 
vor.    In  times  of  distress  they  call  upon  Him 
When  all  goes  well.  He  is  comparatively  f^or^ 

m^nH  \  U'  'U^'^f  ^°^  intelligence  as  to  His 
mind  for  His  Word  is  refused  and  their  o^-n 
vam  thoughts  substituted.    How  common  th^ 


i^f 


)f 

is 
U 

% 

3 

3 


Micah's  Religion. 


67 


expression  among  this  class,  "I  think,"  or,  "I 
do  not  think  "  I  It  is  the  human  mind  working 
in  the  holy  things  of  God.  Of  what  He  has  said, 
they  never  inquire;  but  deify  their  own  poor 
brains  and  follow  the  dictates  of  their  own 
rieshly  minds. 

How  manifestly  is  this  the  case  here!  Had 
Micah's  mother  been  reading  her  Bible,  she 
would  have  found  it  recorded,  "  Thou  shall  not 
make  unto  thee  any  graven  image,  or  any  like- 
ness of  anything  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that 
is  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water 
under  the  earth :  thou  shalt  not  bow  down 
thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them :  for  I  the 
Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the 
iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that 
hate  me ;  and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of 
them  that  love  Me,  and  keep  My  command- 
ments" (Exod.  XX.  4-6).  But  without  stop- 
ping to  inquire,  "What  has  God  said  in  His 
Word?"  the  poor,  deluded  woman  dedicated 
the  silver  to  the  Lord  to  make  a  graven  and  a 
molten  image. 

Micah  refused  to  handle  the  money  again ;  so 
she  "took  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and 
gave  them  to  the  founder,  who  made  thereof  a 
graven  image  and  a  molten  image:  and  they 
were  in  the  house  of  Micah  "  ( ver.  4).  So  much 
for  vows  made  in  distress,  when  the  trouble  is 
overl     She  had  dedicated  the   missing   silver 


'fp''>'' 


I 


IN' 


^  The  only  two  RcUgtons. 

wholfy  to  the  Lord.  Having  recovered  it,  she 
kept  nine  parts  of  it,  and  used  two  parts  in  ac- 
cordance with  her  pledge.  Who  can  measure 
the  deceitfulness  of  the  heart  away  from  God  I 

But,  turning  from  this  self-deceived  old  woman, 
we  go  on  to  view  her  son  in  a  new  role-as  the 
religious  man  of  his  tribe,  albeit  an  idolater! 
What  a  diflFerence  between  Micah  the  thief  and 
Micah  the  reformed,  devoted  man  of  verse  51 
"  The  man  Micah  had  a  house  of  gods,  and  made 
an  ephod,  and  teraphim,  and  consecrated  one  of 
his  sons,  who  became  his  priest."    The  change 
IS  veiy  marked.  The  man's  whole  life  is  altered  : 
but  the   sin-question  remains   unsettled  stiU! 
Neither  his  "chapel,"  nor  his  images,  nor  his 
giving  his  son  up  to  religious  service,  can  settle 
that.    It  is  the  blood  of  atonement  he  needs 
and  that  blood  he  ignores,  and  goes  proudly  on 
doing  "that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eves  " 
(ver.  6).  -^ 

However,  he  seems  to  have  felt  that  there  was 
one  flaw  in  the  system  he  had  built  up.  In  the 
secret  of  his  own  heart  he  is  not  quite  sure  that 
his  pnest  has  the  authority  needed  to  ensure  his 
soul  s  salvation  and  blessing.  If  man  refuse  the 
simple  plan  of  God's  appointment,  he  at  least 
wants  something  venerable  and  authoritative 
upon  which  to  lean.  How  many  a  soul  has 
been  troubled  for  years  as  to  whether  he  was  in 

the  true  church,"  or  enjoying  the  ministry  of 
a  properly  ordained  clergy ;  and  then,  when 


.(i^sSiA-. 


Micah's  Religion* 


€9 


once  assured  in  his  own  mind  that  all  was  well 
on  these  lines,  has  settled  down  into  a  false 
peace  and  a  carnal  security  that,  perhaps,  was 
never  disturbed  till  he  awoke  in  helll 

Micah  is  uneasy.  His  soul  is  not  at  rest. 
The  ministrations  of  his  son  may  not  be  valid, 
as  he  is  not  in  the  direct  priestly  succession. 
Very  well ;  then  the  devil  will  give  him  a  man  to 

suit! 

"There  was  a  young  man  out  ofBethlehem- 
judah  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  who  was  a  Levite, 
and  he  sojourned  there.    And  the  man  departed 
out  of  the  city  from  Beth-lehem-judah  to  sojourn 
where  he  could  find  a  place:  and  he  came  to 
mount  Ephraim  to  the  house  of  Micah,  as  he 
journeyed  "  (vers.  7, 8).  The  name  of  this  active 
young  Levite  is  given  in  the  next  chapter,  as 
also  his  pedigree:  "Jonathan,  the  son  of  Ger- 
shom,  the  son  of"  (not,  as  in  the  A.  Y.,  Manas- 
seh,  but,  according  to  the  R.  V.,)  "Moses"! 
(ver.  30).    Here  surely  was  one  holding  orders 
that  were  unimpeachable.    Did  not  Moses  talk 
with  God  face  to  face  ?   Who  so  fitted  to  attend 
to  Micah's  spiritual  interests  as  his  grandson  ? 
But,  alas,  grace  is  not  inherited,  nor  yet  gift  to 
minister  in  the  holy  things  of  God  I 

Jonathan  the  Levite  was  out  looking  for  a 
call.  It  must  have  seemed  to  be  nothing  less 
than  Divine  Providence  that  led  him  to  visit  the 
house  of  Micah.  The  one  wanted  a  priest,  the 
other  wanted  a  hving:  what  could  be  more 


i 


'i: 


70 


The  only  two  RcBglons. 


marked?   In  answer  to  Micah's  query  "Wli*^.- 
comest  thoM  ?  " +u«  ^**^*j*    wncnce 

reolv    "i!        ,     •^°"'«  "^  »  not  slow  to 
f    "  ,  *''"•  ^>-    This  suits  M  cah  exactlv  »„j 

unto  me  a  father  «ti^  „      •    with  me,  and  be 

word  nfr«^!^..x7  P^°*°"na  Ignorance   of  the 

priest  I"  fver   1^\     t*-  •    tt.  **^  *°  ™y 

r         •     iver.  Id).    It  IS  the  merest  nrMitr«« 

we  venturp  !^  ^  ^  ^"""^^  minister;  but 
found  to  dal  w7  ""'^  '""^'^'"^^^  ^°"W  be 
ground  ^   ""^^   '■'''   ^°   *^«   «ame  false 

How  is  it  with  the  reader?    Micah's  mi.i-  1, 
was  m    -attinir  refnrtnor         ^*^»can  s  mistake 

a  "clerg;^nianM  [n  tl.      ,     °'  7^'Sriousness.  and 
cxcrg3  man,    m  the  place  of  the  Tresoa«i  nf 
fenng  and  the  blood  of  atonement  Tr^o^ 


Micah's  Religton. 


71 


dear  friend,  making  the  same  fatal  mistake? 
Perhaps  you  rest  upon  your  church-member- 
ship, your  baptism,  your  confirmation,  your 
sacrament-taking,  or  your  benevolence  or  phi- 
lanthropy. Oh,  I  beseech  you,  remember  that 
it  is  the  blood,  and  the  blood  alone,  that  maketh 
an  atonement  for  the  soul.  No  church,  however 
ancient;  no  clergyman,  however  talented;  no 
priest,  however  holy,  can  avail  to  put  away 
your  sins.  Jesus  is  the  only  Saviour.  His  blood, 
nothing  more  and  nothing  less,  cleanseth  from 
all  sin. 

Mark,  that  mere  assurance  that  all  is  right 
does  not  make  it  so.  Micah  believed  all  was 
well  because  he  had  a  Levite  for  his  priest ;  but 
his  belief  was  grounded  upon  his  own  thoughts, 
not  upon  what  God  had  said.  This  is  the  differ- 
ence between  faith  and  presumption.  The  latter 
relies  upon  some  word  or  thought  of  man;  the 
former  rests  upon  the  word  of  God,  and  knows 
all  must  be  well. 

Micah's  false  confidence  was  doomed  to  be 
terribly  shaken.  The  next  chapter  relates  the 
coming  of  some  men  to  his  house,  who  were  on 
their  way  to  spy  out  a  new  country  for  some 
of  the  children  of  Dan.  They  knew  "  Father" 
Jonathan  of  old.  Upon  their  second  journey, 
with  a  company  of  emigrants,  they  decided  it 
would  be  well  to  start  their  new  settlement  in  a 
religious  way.  Accordingly,  "  the  five  men  that 
went  to  spy  out  the  land  went  up,  and  came  in 


I 
I' 

H 


It 

1 


a 


fi 


HI:! 
11 


^ 


72  The  only  two  Religions. 

thither"  (to  Micah's  chapel),  "and  took  the 
graven  image,  and  the  ephod,  and  the  tera- 
phim,  and  the  molten  image:  and  the  priest 
stood  in  the  entering  of  the  gate.  .  .  .  Then  the 
pnest  said  unto  them.  What  do  ye  ?    And  tkey 
said  unto  him,  Hold  thy  peace,  lay  thy  hand 
upon  thy  mouth,  and  go  with  us,  and  be  to  us 
a  father  and  a  priest :  is  it  better  for  thee  to  be 
a  priest  unto  the  house  of  one  man,  or  that  thou 
be  a  priest  unto  a  tribe  and  a  family  in  Israel  ? 
And  the  priest's  heart  was  glad;  and  he  took 
the  ephod,  and  the  teraphim,  and  the  graven 
image,  and  went  in  the  midst  of  the  people" 
(vers.  17-20).    What  a  picture  have  we  here! 
"The  hireling  fleeth  because  he  is  a  hireling." 
The  man  who  could  so  readily  accept  the  care 
of  Micah's  soul  for  a  monetary  consideration  is 
just  as  ready  to  forsake  him  when  the  opportu- 
nity presents  itself  to  better  his  own  condition. 
He  sees  in  the  rude  action  and  the  surly  offer  of 
the  children  of  Dan  a  call  to  a  larger  sphere  of 
usefulness-to  use  a  popular  expression ;  and 
without  a  word  of  farewell  to  his  patron  he 
goes  off  with  a  delighted  heart  to  his  new  fields 
where  he  establishes  a  hierarchy  that  lasted  till 
the  captivity  of  the  ten  tribes  (ver.  30).    How 
hollow  is  the  whole  priestly  system,  after  all! 

But  what  of  Micah  in  regard  to  all  this  ?  He 
has  been  away  from  l.ome,  apparently;  but 
upon  his  return,  learns  of  the  spoliation  of  his 
chapel  and  the  carrying  off  of  his  priest.    Gath- 


Micah's  Religion. 


73 


cring  some  of  his  neighbors  together,  he  sets  out 
to  pursue  the  chiUlren  of  Dan,  and  soon  over- 
takes them.    "  And  they  cried  unto  the  children 
of  Dan.    And  they  turned  their  faces,  and  said 
unto  Micah,  What  aileth  thee,  that  thou  comest 
with  such  a  company  ?  "  ( ver.  23).    It  was  add- 
ing insult  to  injury.    The  priest  discreetly  holds 
his  pence.    Micah  despairingly  replies,  *'  Ye  have 
taken  awa>   my  gods  which  I  made,  and  the 
priest,  and  ye  are  gone  away :  and  what  have  I 
more?  and  what  is  this  that  ye  say  unto  mc, 
Yv  hat  aileth  thee  ?  "  ( ver.  24).    Note  the  pathos 
in  the  question,  "What have  I  more?"    What 
a  confession  as  to  the  true  state  of  affairs !    All 
his  religion  had  consisted  in  outward  obser  - 
ances.    Now  his  gods  and  his  priest  are  gone, 
and  he  is  bereft  of  all.    What  had  he  more? 

Nothing  I 

He  had  never  been  in  the  presence  of  God 
about  his  sins;  he  had  never  consulted  the  sure 
word  of  the  Lord  given  through  Moses ;  he  had 
rested  only  upon  what  his  own  deceived  and  de- 
ceitful heart  persuaded  him  would  suit  Jehovah's 
holy  eye ;  and  now  all  was  gone  1  He  had  lost 
his  religion,  and  he  knew  not  God's  way  of  sal- 
vation. His  confidence  had  proven  to  be  but 
vain  confidence  after  all.  His  "Now  I  know'' 
of  the  previous  chapter  was  changed  to  this  sol- 
emn "  What  have  I  more  ?  " 

It  was  a  rude  awakening  from  his  dream  of 
security ;  but  we  read  of  no  repentance  even 


« 

*  ' 

#1 


■  I4; 
(ill ', 

J.' 


74 


-'« 


1:1 


The  only  two  Religions. 


now.    The  chapter  clo.e.  leaving  him  mourning 

dren  of  Dan.    His  fancied  light  had  proven  but 
an  untrustworthy  wilLo'-the-wisp. 

Before  dismissing  the  subject,  we  would  seek 
once  more  to  press  the  question  home  upon  the 
reader  s  conscience.    Are  you  certain  you  have 

In/fM '  u? 5' '^'""'^y  *^°"  *»^^*  ^hich  de- 
luded Micah  ?    If  suddenly  bereft  of  all  the  out- 

ward  forms  and  ceremonies  of  religion,  would 

you  have  to  cry.  with   him,  "What  have  I 

more  ?      Or,  could  you,  on  the  other  hand,  take 

on  tt%''^  f^  P°°"  ^°™^"  °"«^  ^^"'^d  dying 
ron^f  I.  f  ^  ^^"^^'  ^^''^^t  of  evei7thing  to 
comfort  or  cheer,  who,  when  questioned  af  to 
what  she  desired, exclaimed  in  triumph, "  I  have 
Const :  what  want  I  more  I " 

Oh,  be  persuaded,  dear  unsaved  one,  this  is 
very  different  to  merely  doing  your  best,  stri- 
vmg  to  live  a  religious  life,  trying  to  kee^  the 
law,  or  depending  upon  church,  sacrament,  or 
pnestl    Many  of  these  things  may  be  in  th;m' 
selves  very  good,  but  they  cannot  save  poor  sin- 
ners.      It  is  not  possible  that  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  of  goats  should  put  away  sin."    And  it  is 
equally  impossible  to  put  it  away  by  human 
effort,  however  earnest  and  well-meaning.  Were 
It  possible  so  to  fit  yourself  for  the  pre^ce  of 
God,  be  assured  He  would  never  have  given  His 

there  to  bear  His  awful  judgment  against  sin 


11 


Micah's  Religion. 


75 


^  a  t 


'encatii  it  ic 

''•JIT'     '".i 

His  V\ 

1-.  unci 


s::i 


•  riiquity,  or 

^r.    In  infi- 

,  bore  our 

.freepar- 

.ic  name  of 

rd  declares 

faithful  and 

o  cleanse  us 

9).    Dis- 


It  was  because  there  was  no  other  way  that 

God  "  made  Him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no 

sin ;  that  wc  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 

God  in  Him"  (2  Cor       .  ! ).    Either  He  must 

endure  the  wrath 

the  sinner  must  sin 

nite  love  and  grr- .    '  j 

judgment,  and  r.o 

don  to  all  who     anv 

Jesus,  confessiUf^  du'v. 

that  "If  we  confe^s  v/u 

just  to  forgive  us  oi  r 

from  all  unrigbteousnt:,^      (1  joun  i 

carding  every  other  hope  as  unreliable  and  vain, 

turn  to  Him  now,  ere  His  patience  be  exhausted 

and  the  door  of  grace  be  closed  forevermore. 

"  Because  there  is  wrath,  beware ;  lest  He  take 
thee  away  with  His  stroke :  then  a  great  ran- 
som cannot  deliver  thee  "  (Job  xxxvi.  18).  The 
"great  ransom"  is  Christ  Himself.  He  died, 
the  Just  for  the  unjust,  that  He  might  bring  us 
to  God.  All  who  come  to  God  through  Him  are 
saved  eternally.  All  who  pass  from  his  life 
neglecting  or  rejecting  Him  are  lost  )rever. 
"Now  is  the  accepted  time;"  while  God,  in 
grace,  is  still  beseeching  men  to  be  reconciled  to 
Himself.  Accept,  and  live!  Refuse,  and  die! 
"He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life;  he  that  hath 
not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life  "  ( 1  Jno.  v.  12). 


76 


I:* 


.      'i       .4  ■- 


f;  * 


ii 


CONCURRENT  BLESSINGS. 


f :      V 


WHEN  a  poor,  weary  sinner  conies  in  his 
guilt  and  misery  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
his  utmost  expectation,  as  a  rule,  is  to 
obtain  forgiveness  for  the  sins  committed  up  to 
the   time   of  his   awakening   and   conversion. 
Even  this  he  realizes  to  be  wonderful  grace,  and 
imagines  that  to  ask  or  expect  more  would  be 
the  greatest  presumption.    Like  the  prodigal  if 
pardoned  for  the  past,  he  will  sue  for  a  hired 
servant's  place  for  the  future  (Luke  xv.  12-24). 
Blessed  it  is,  however,  that  God  deals  with 
souls  in  accordance  with  His  own  thoughts. 
He  has  no  hired  servants.    His  word  is,  "  Bring 
forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him ;  put  a 
ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet."    So 
arrayed,  the  saved  one  is  given  a  place  at  his 
Father's  table,  where  both  together  feast  on 
Christ. 

In  this  paper  I  wish  to  consider  a  few  of  the 
blessings  bestowed,  through  grace,  upon  the 
one  who  trusts  in  the  Lord  Jesus  as  his  Saviour. 

The  word  of  God  declares  that  "He  hath 
blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  heav- 
enly   places   in   Christ"  (Eph.  i.  3).     Among 


If] 


Gmcurrent  Blessings* 


77 


Christians  there  is  no  special  aristocratic  class. 
All  alike  have  been  "made  meet  to  be  partakers 
of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light"  (Col.  i. 
12),  and  all  alike  are  dear  to  the  Father's  heart 
as  Christ  Himself  (John  xvii.  23). 

There  are  seven  things  which  may  be  predica- 
ted of  every  one  who  has  trusted  Him  whose 
precious  blood  puts  all  sin  away ;  and  it  is  these 
blessed  truths  I  desire  to  bring  before  the  con- 
verted reader. 

(1)  New  Birth. 

All  Christians  have  been  bom  anew.  "  Who- 
soever believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  is  bom 
of  God"  (1  John  v.  1).  The  word  of  God  re- 
ceived in  faith  results  in  new  birth.  "Of  His 
own  will  begat  He  us  by  the  word  of  tmth." 
"Being  bom  again,  not  of  cormptible  seed,  but 
of  incormptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which  Hv- 
eth  and  abideth  forever."  "  And  this  is  the  word 
which  by  the  gospel  is  preached  unto  you  "  Qas. 
i.  18;  1  Pet.  i.  23,  25). 

By  new  birth  the  Christian  receives  a  nature 
the  bent  of  which  is  absolutely  righteous;  just 
as  by  the  natural  birth,  he  inherited  a  nature 
who^  tendency  is  ever  evil.  "That  which  is 
bora  of  the  flesh  is  flesh ;  and  that  which  is  bom 
of  the  Spirit  is  spirit "  (John  iii.  6).  These  two 
natures  exist  side  by  side  in  the  believer.  "  The 
flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spint 

against  the  flesh:  and  these  are  contrary  the 


'.':  'i"^ 

I 


•i 


78  The  only  two  Religions. 

one  to  ^c  other;  so  that  ye  might  not  do  the 
things  that  ye  would"  (Gal.  v.  IT.N.xr.).  But 
as  he  walks  m  the  Spirit,  he  does  not  fulfil  the 
desires  of  the  flesh.    "We  know  that  whoso- 

ofrii  wf  T^L^  ''°°'°«^'  "because  he  is  bom 
ofGod'-dJohnv.lS;  ljohniii.9).    Heisno 

longer  to  be  controlled  by  the  old  nature.    D^ 
nying  that,  acting  as  bom  again,  he  does  not 
sin    It  IS  a  question  of  practice.    The  Christian, 
whatever  his  failures,  is  characterized  by  right 
eousness.  ^    ^ 

••As  many  as  received  Him.  to  them  gave  He 

thlt  t^'''^'^^'  ''°°^  °^  G°^'  --^°  ^o  them 
that  6e^,eve  onH^s  name :  which  were  bom,  not 

of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 

will  of  man.  but  of  God  "  (John  i.  12,  13). 

(2)  Eternal  Life. 

In  unmistakable  terms,  the  Scriptures  afiirm 
over  and  over  again  that  every  believer  has 

^2  'h^'T'^^'I"^'  "^^-  ^^'"^  b^^-  tried  to 
make  a  distinction  between  the  two  words ;  but 
they  are  simply  different  renderings  into  English 
of  the  one  Greek  word.  ''As  Moses  lifted  up 
the  serpent  m  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the 
Son  ol  man  be  hfted  up:  that  whosoever  be- 

ian  fe  ••  "  Veril°"''  T  ?"^''  '"*  ^^^^  ^*- 
?u  M.  J!"'^'  ''^"''^'  ^  say  unto  you,  He 
that  heareth  My  word,  and  believeth  on  Him 
that  sent  Me.  hath  everlasting  life,  and  shall 


Concurrent  Blessings* 


79 


not  come  into  condemnation  "  (judgment,  R.  V. ), 
"  but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life  "  (Jno.  iii.  14, 

15;v.  24). 

This  life  is  communicated  in  new  birth,  as  nat- 
ural life  was  communicated  at  the  birth  accord- 
ing to  nature.    It  is  not  immortality.    All  will 
live  forever,  in  conscious  bliss  or  woe  (Matt. 
XXV.  46);  but  only  those  who  trust  in  Christ 
have  eternal  life.    '*  This  is  life  eternal,  that  they 
might  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  Thou  hast  sent"  (John  xvii,  3). 
It  is  not  to  be  defined,  but  enjoyed.    Christ  is 
the  believer's  life  as  to  source,  and  is  likewise 
the  sustainer  of  it  when  communicated.  Heaven 
is  its  proper  sphere.    There  we  shall  enter  into 
life  eternal.    That  is,  we  shall  be  in  the  scene 
that  is  suited  to  its  full  display.    This  is  why,  in 
some  passages  of  the  Pauline  epistles,  and  the 
synoptic  Gospels,  it  is  presented  as  the  goal. 
But  throughout  the  Gospel  and  the  first  epistle 
of  John  it  is  viewed  as  the  present  possession  of 
all  believers.  "  These  things  have  I  written  unto 
you  that  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  j 
that  je  may  know  that  ye  have  eternal  life*' 
(1  John  V.  13). 
To  deny  that  all  Christians  have  it  is  to  make 

God  a  liar  1 
(3)  Justification. 

'•  By  Him  all  that  believe  are  justified  from 
ALL  things"  (Acts  xiii.  39).    This  is  far  more 


80 


^ 


:*l 


|i 


a  f 


I  i 


The  only  two  Religions. 


tha^  being  merely  pardoned-unmerited  grace 
as  that  might  be  To  be  justified  is  to  l^en- 
tarely  vindicated  from  every  charge  that  might 
be  brought  against  me.  It  is  "the  sentence  of 
the  judge  m  favor  of  the  prisoner  " 

The  ground  of  this  is  the  finished  work  of 
Christ  He  bore  the  judgment  due  to  all  my 
sms.  Therefore  God  can  be  "just  and  the  jus- 
Hi  26)  ^^""^  believeth  in  Jesus"  (Rom. 

Justification  is  not  a  state  of  soul.  It  is  the 
standing  of  the  once  guilty  sinner,  before  God. 
in  absolute  righteousness.  "  Who  shall  lay  any- 
to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is  God  that 
justifieth"  (Rom.  viii.  33).  This  settles  every 
question  as  to  guilt.  If  God  has  justified,  none 
can  condemn. 

As  no  work  of  man  could  avail  to  procure  jus- 
tification, so  no  act  of  man  can  cause  it  to  be 
forfeited.    Chnst  having  been  made  sin  for  sin- 
ners, they  who  believe  are  made  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  in  Him.    The  new  life  which  they 
receive  IS  one  to  which  sin  can  never  attach 
They  stand  before  Him  in  "justification  of  life" 
(Rom.  y.  18);  and  this  on  the  ground  of  one 
accomphshed  act  of  righteousness,  which  has 
settled  the  sin-question  forever,  in  a  manner 
fully  satisfactory  to  God.    All  the  believer's  sins 
were  laid  on  Jesus.    All  were  atoned  for.    All 
were  put  away  for  eternity.      None   can  ever 
be  mentioned  to  him  again.    His  justification 


Jfe% 


Gmcurrent  Blessings* 


81 


is  perfect,  complete,    and    therefore   once   for 
aU. 

(4)  Sanctification. 

Not  only  is  every  believer  justified,  he  is  also 
sanctified,  i.e.,  set  apart.  Christ  is  his  sancti- 
fication. In  God's  eye  he  is  not  only  cleared 
(justified),  but  he  is  likewise  cleansed  from  the 
pollution  of  sin  as  well  as  from  its  dreadful 
guilt.  He  is  "  sanctified  by  the  offering  of  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all."  "By  one 
offering  He  hath  perfected  forever  them  that  are 
sanctified"(Heb.  X.  10,  14). 

Paul  could  address  all  saints  as  "sanctified 
in  Christ  Jesus"  (1  Cor.  i.  2),  though  many  of 
them  were  far  from  being  practically  so.  This 
latter  must  never  be  ignored.  It  is  of  tremen- 
dous importance.  It  is  by  the  word  of  truth 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  (John  xvii.  17;  Eph.  v. 
26;  2  Thess.  ii.  13).  Positional,  or  absolute, 
sanctification  is  by  the  blood  of  Christ. 

Saved  through  His  death.  He  is  made  unto  me 
sanctification  (1  Cor.  i.  30),  for  I  am  in  Him; 
but  I  am  to  make  this  practical  by  daily  walk- 
ing in  subjection  to  the  word  of  God,  in  the 
power  of  an  ungrieved  Spirit. 

Sanctification,  in  Sciipture,  never  means  the 
eradication  of  the  sinful  nature,  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  remains  in  every  believer  until  the 
Lord  shall  fashion  anew  these  bodies  of  our 
humiUation,  and  make  them  like  unto  His  glo- 


B2 


The  only  two  Religions. 


I  sanctify  Mvself  tlhnTfT      i        ? "^  ^^^"^  ®^«s 
poltation     Hel^S  *°:r ^"•'^  ''"-'i-g from 

God  .e...r.L'r^-t";L*;nr  °' 

(5)  The  Holy  Spirit. 


Gmcurrent  Blessings* 


83 


NONE  OF  His  "  (Rom.  viii.  9 ;  see,  also,  verse  11). 

This  is  true  of  the  youngest  babe  in  Christ,  as 
1  John  ii.  20,  27  will  make  clear.  It  is  not  the 
"fathers,"  or  the  "young  men,"  who  are  there 
addressed,  but  the  babes,  the  "little  children." 
To  such  John  says,  "Ye  have  an  unction  from 
the  Holy  One,"  and  "The  anointing  which  ye 
have  received  of  Him  abideth  in  you." 

Likewise,  in  addressing  the  Galatians,  Paul 
asks,  "  Received  ye  the  Spirit  by  the  works  of 
the  law,  or  by  the  hearing  of  faith  ?  "  (Gal.  iii. 
2).  This  is  not  a  "second  blessing,"  but  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  course. 

The  "certain  disciples"  often  referred  to  in 
Acts  xix.  1-6  were  not  on  Christian  ground  at 
all,  but,  as  the  passage  itself  makes  plain,  were 
Jewish  believers,  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist. 

All  Christians  have  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the 
moment  of  their  believing  the  testimony  of  the 
gospel. 

He  is  the  eariKst  of  what  is  to  come  when  the 
child  of  God  is  taken  home.  He  is  also  the  seal 
that  he  is  the  Lord's  down  here.  "  In  whom  ye 
also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word  of 
truth,  the  gospel  of  your  salvation:  in  whom 
also,  after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with 
that  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest 
of  our  inheritance  until  the  redemption  of  the 
purchased  possession,  unto  the  praise  of  His 
glory." 

This  sealing  is  not  for  a  brief  period,  but  Eph. 


i 


W  The  only  two  Religions. 

iv.  30  say.,  "  Grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 

tio!r^     y*  *"  ^^^^  «nto  the  day  of  redemp- 

BelievcTB  are  quickened  by  the  Spirit,  sancti- 
uZ  ^  r^.®?'"*'  haptiz^  by  the  Spirit  into  the 
body  of  Chnst.  anointed  by  the  Spirit,  and,  as 
they  walk  with  God  in  obedience  to  His  Word 
filled  with  the  Spirit.  • 

(6)  In  Christ. 

Again  every  Christian  is  in  Christ;  in  con- 
trast to  his  previous  condition,  in  Adam.  (See 
Rom.  V.  12-21  and  1  Cor.  xv.  45-49.)  If  the 
reader  is  unsaved,  he  is  in  Adam,  and  therefore 
under  condemnation.  If  he  is  saved,  he  is  in 
Chnst, m  a  "new  creation,"  (2  Cor.  v.  17),  and 

there  IS  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to 
them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus"  (Rom.  viii.  1). 

lie  IS  linked  up  forever  with  the  glorified  Head 
of  the  new  creation.  All  in  Adam  die;  all  in 
Chnst  shall  be  made  alive. 

Itis  of  the  utmost  importance  to  see  this.  If 
m  Chr^  I  am  loved  by  the  Father  as  He  is ;  as 
secure  from  judgment  as  He  is ;  as  certain  of  be- 
ing forever  in  glory  as  He  is.  My  destiny  is 
bnked  up  with  His.  I  died  with  Him.  I  have 
been  raised  with  Him.  I  am  accepted  in  Him 
I  am  seated  m  heavenly  places  in  Him.    "  As  He 

'f'J^.u'^  ^'*  '"  ^'^  '^'*^^'^"  (1  John  iv.  17). 
He  that  IS  jois:  d  to  the  Lord  is  one  spirit" 
(1  Cor.  wu  17).  *^ 


Concurrent  Bksslng;s* 


85 


All  who  are  now  "in  Christ"  are  certain  to 
be  in  the  glory  "  with  Christ." 

(7)  The  Church. 

Lastly,  every  Christian  is  a  Church  member. 
He  does  not  need  to  join  a  church.  He  is  joined 
TO  THE  Church.  In  Acts  ii.  47  we  read,  "  The 
Lord  added  to  the  Church  daily  such  as  should 
be  saved."  This  Church  is  the  Body  of  Christ. 
He  is  its  only  Head  (Eph.  v.  22-32;  Col.  i.  18). 
The  way  believers  are  brought  into  the  Body  is 
given  us  in  1  Cor.  xii.  13:  "For  by  one  Spirit 
ARE  WE  ALL  baptized  into  one  Body." 

As  of  old,  so  now,  the  Spirit's  baptism  brings 
each  saved  one  into  the  Church,  or  Assembly, 
which  consists  of  all  in  every  place  who  have 
trusted  in  Christ. 

The  responsibilities  flowing  from  this  are 
clearly  set  before  us  in  the  Corinthian  epistles, 
and  the  letters  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  as  also 
in  other  portions  of  the  New  Testament,  nota- 
bly the  last  half  of  Ephesians  and  Rom.  xii. 

May  grace  be  given  to  reader  and  writer  to 
enter  more  fully  into  the  wondrous  privileges  of 
the  Christian  place,  and  wisdom  be  given  to 
walk  in  subjection  to  the  practical  truths  flow- 
ing therefrom ! 


'4 


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u 


''WHO  HATH  BEWITCHED  YOU?'' 

OR, 

THE  BELIEVER'S  RELATION  TO  THE 

LAW. 


THE  great  question  of  the  soul's  salvation 
settled,  another  very  soon  arises  to  perplex 
and  trouble  many  a  new-bom  babe  in 
Christ.  What  is  the  Christian's  relation  to  the 
law?  Granted  that  human  enactments  and 
man-made  ordinances  have  no  place  in  Christi- 
anity, can  the  same  be  said  of  that  *'  fiery  law  " 
which  the  New  Testament  declares  is  "holy, 
just,  and  good  ? "  The  more  sincere  and  earnest 
a  soul  is,  the  more  will  this  question  trouble  and 
perplex. 

For  answer,  let  us  turn  to  the  third  and 
fourth  chapters  of  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians. 

These  assemblies  of  Galatia  consisted,  in  large 
measure,  of  honest  souls  from  among  the  hea- 
then, who  had  been  but  recently  converted  to 
the  Lord.  Paul  had  been  to  them  the  messen- 
ger  with  feet  beautiful  upon  the  mountains,  who 


^Who  hath  bewitched  You?'*     87 

had  brought  them  the  glad  tidings  of  peace 
with  God  through  the  blood  of  His  Son.  They 
had  received  him  aa  an  angel  of  God,  and  would 
have  plucked  out  their  own  eyes  and  given  them 
to  him,  had  such  a  thing  been  possible.  Loving 
the  Saviour,  they  loved  the  one  who  had  been 
the  bearer  of  His  gospel. 

Having  fulfilled  his  ministry  among  them  for 
the  time,  he  had  gone  to  labor  elsewhere. 
There  the  news  of  a  strange  reaction  reached 
him.  His  beloved  Galatian  converts  had  been 
thrown  into  confusion  and  trouble  of  soul.  His 
own  apostleship  even  was  called  in  question, 
for  it  was  bruited  that  his  was  but  a  partial 
gospel,  which  stopped  short  of  the  full  truth  of 
Christianity.     (See  first  two  chapters.) 

Disaffected  men  from  Judea  had  gone  up  to 
Galatia,  and  were  busy  spreading  among  these 
Galatian  converts  the  pernicious  doctrine  that, 
while  faith  in  Christ  was  all  very  well  as  a 
means  of  obtaining  salvation,  obedience  to  the 
law  of  Moses  was  the  divinely  appointed  meth- 
od of  retaining  it  I  How  like  much  that  one 
hears  in  Christendom  to-day  I 

Stirred  to  the  soul  by  the  havoc  being  wrought 
among  these  simple  saints,  the  apostle  sits  down 
and  with  his  own  hand  pens  a  letter,  as  many 
suppose,  in   large,  awkward   characters*   de- 

*  It  is  a  question  whether  Chapter  vi.  11  sboaM  read,  "bow 
large  a  letter,"  or,  "in  what  large  lettenk"  The  latter  woald 
imply  that  he  was  near-sighted. 


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83  The  only  two  Religions^ 

signed   to    deliver  them  from  the  snare  into 
which  they  were  falling. 

After  declaring  the  reality  of  his  apostleship, 
he  exclaims,  in  chapter  3,  "0  foolish  Gala- 
tians,  who  hath  bewitched  you,  that  ye  should 
not  obey  the  truth,  before  whose  eyes  Jesus 
Christ  hath  been  evidently  set  forth,  crucified 
among  you  ?  "  Their  vaunted  clearer  light  and 
new  teaching  was  but  the  work  of  the  enemy  of 
souls,  blinding  their  eyes  to  the  true  meaning 
of  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  shutting  them  up  to 
the  darkness  and  bondage  of  Judaism. 

Now  this  first  question,  rightly  understood, 
settles  the  whole  matter.  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
crucified  1  This  simple  yet  solemn  fact  bears  a 
tremendous  relation  to  the  entire  subject  of  the 
Christian's  place  in  regard,  not  only  to  the  law, 
but  to  sin,  the  world,  and  all  fleshly  religion. 

Why  was  Jesus  Christ  crucified?— All  had 
sinned.  From  the  mass  of  mankind  God  selected 
one  nation.     To  them  He  gave  a  holy  law. 
That  law  decreed  judgment  upon  the  breaker 
of  it .    "As  many  as  are  of  the  works  of  the  law 
are  under  the  curse:  for  it  is  written.  Cursed  is 
every  one   that  continueth  not  in   all  things 
which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to 
do  them"  (ver.  10).    None  ever  "continued." 
Therefore  all  were  under  the  sentence  of  doom. 
Into  such  a  scene  Christ  came  to  take  that  curse 
upon  Himself,  and  to  bear  the  sinner's  judg- 
ment.   He  was  crucified.    Upon  the  tree,  God 


"Who  hath  bewitched  You?"       89 

dealt  with  Him  as  though  He  were  the  guilty 
one.  He  fully  met  all  the  claims  of  that  broken 
law.  "  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse 
of  the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us :  for  it  is 
written,  Cursed  is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a 
tree"  (ver.  13).  He,  then,  has  delivered  from 
the  law  every  believing  Jew ;  and  no  Gentile  was 
ever  under  it  in  the  full  sense.  Has  His  work, 
then,  no  bearing  upon  their  state  ?  It  has.  He 
bore  the  wrath,  and  was  made  a  curse,  not 
alone  to  redeem  the  Jew,  but  "that  the  blessing 
of  Abraham  might  come  on  the  Gentiles  through 
Jesus  Christ ;  that  we  might  receive  the  promise 
of  the  Spirit  through  faith"  (ver.  14). 

Long  before  the  giving  of  the  law,  it  had  been 
declared  to  Abraham,  "  In  thee  shall  all  nations 
be  blessed."  "So,  then,  they  which  be  of  faith 
are  blessed  with  believing  Abraham  "  (vers.  8,9). 
And  so  "the  Scripture  hath  concluded  all  under 
sin,  that  the  promise  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ 
might  be  given  to  them  that  believe  "  (ver.  22). 

These  Galatians  had  believed  (at  least,  so  the 
apostle  hoped,  though  their  readiness  to  turn 
from  Christ  to  law  made  him  fear  for  their  real- 
ity, chap.  iv.  11):  by  thus  trusting  in  Christ, 
they  became  "  sons  of  God  "  (chap.  iii.  26).  As 
such,  they  never  had  been,  nor  were  they  now, 
under  the  law. 

Before  faith  came,  the  Jews  were  "  kept  under 
the  law,  shut  up  unto  the  faith  which  should 
afterwards  be  revealed  "  (ver.  23).    That  faith. 


90 


The  only  two  Religions* 


<{■■ 


the  precious  truth  of  the  gospel,  had  now  come ; 
therefore  they  who  believed  among  the  Jewish 
nation  were  taken  out  of  the  place  of  childhood 
and  tutelage,  which  they  had  occupied  so  long, 
and  given  the  full  place  of  sons.  "  When  the  ful- 
ness of  the  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  His 
Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to 
redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we  " 
(i.e.,  converted  IsraeUtes)  "might  receive  the 
adoption  of  sons"  (chap.  iv.  1-5). 

What,  then,  of  the  Gentiles  who  believed  ?  Ta- 
ken out  of  heathenism,  they  had  been  at  one 
time  subject  to  the  judgment  of  God  against 
their  manifold  iniquities;  but  they  had  never 
been  under  the  law  of  Moses  at  all  I  Saved 
through  grace,  they  found  themselves  at  once 
in  the  same  position  as  the  redeemed  Jew.  "  Be- 
cause jre  (i.e., the  Gentiles  who  were  converted) 
are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  His 
Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father" 
(ver.  6). 

Why,  then,  go  back  to  the  place  from  which 
God  had  delivered  believing  Jews  ?  Such  a  step 
was  to  give  up  Christianity,  to  "fall  from 
g^ace"  (chap.  v.  4).  It  would  be  setting  at 
naught  grace,  and  going  back  to  the  yoke  of 
bondage.  Against  this  he  warns  them  with  all 
the  fervor  of  his  soul. 

And  yet  this  is  exactly  what  the  mass  in 
Christendom  have  done  1  Owning  with  more  or 
less  clearness  that  justification  somehow  de- 


■■3  r' ; 
7  "St  i 


** Who  hath  bewitched  You?"       9J 

pends  upon  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  one  who 
has  trusted  in  that  precious  blood  is  put  back 
under  the  law  as  a  rule  of  life.    This  has  well 
been  called  "  the  Galatian  heresy."    He  who  be- 
witched these  saints  of  apostolic  days,  has  suc- 
ceeded in  entangling  untold  thousands  in  the 
same  yoke  of  bondage.    And  this  in  the  face  of 
the  clear  teaching  of  this  trenchant  letter  to  the 
Galatians,  and  the  equally  clear  instruction  of 
the  second  great  section  of  the  epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans I    (See  chap.  v.  12  to  the  end  of  chap.  viii. ) 
The  uniform  teaching  of  the  inspired  apostle 
to  the  nations  is,  that  "  I  through  the  law  am 
dead  to  the  law,  that  I  might  live  unto  God|' 
(Gal.  ii.  19)     That  law  which  slew  our  Substi- 
tute, has  no  longer  any  claim  upon  us  who  have 
died  to  the  law. 

But,  at  once,  the  question  arises,  What,  then, 
is  to  be  the  Christian's  rule  of  life  ?    Is  he  to  be 
lawless  because  not  under  law  ?   Assuredly  not  1 
He  has  a  far  higher  rule  than  the  Mosaic  tables, 
even  Christ  in  glory.    "  For  in  Christ  Jesus  nei- 
ther circumcision  availeth  anything,  nor  uncir- 
cumcision,  but  a  new  creature"  (or,  literally,  a 
new  creation).    "  And  as  many  as  walk  accord- 
ing to  this  rule,  peace  be  on  them,  and  mercy, 
and  upon  the  Israel  of  God"  (chap.  vi.  15, 16). 
Here  is  all  the  rule  that  is  needed.    The  be- 
liever is  now  in  the  new  creation.    The  law  was 
the  standard  of  righteousness  for  man  in  the 
flesh,  in  the  old  creation.    The  Head  of  the  new 


!^ 


b   \ 


92 


The  only  two  Religions* 


creation  is  Christ  Himself,  risen  and  glorified,  at 
Goil's  right  hand.  This  is  the  rule  of  life  for  the 
child  of  God.  And  this  is  something  infinitely 
higher  than  the  ten  words  given  on  Sinai,  which, 
after  all,  are  never  said  to  be  the  strength  of 
holiness,  but  distinctly  declared  to  be  "the 
strength  of  sin''  (1  Cor.  xv.  56). 

Occupation  with  Christ  in  the  glory  of  God  is 
the  strength  of  holiness.  Turn  your  eye,  dear 
fellow-believer,  not  back  to  Sinai,  with  its  cloud- 
capped  top  and  its  fire  and  smoke,  but  up  to 
heaven,  where  the  Lord  Jesus  has  gone.  Let 
the  heart  be  fixed  upon  Him,  and  the  walk  will 
be  right.  He  has  become  the  Mediator  of  the 
New  Testament.  Search,  then,  His  Word,  and 
seek  grace  to  order  your  ways  in  accordance 
with  it,  which  will  be  joyful  service  indeed,  when 
the  heart  beats  true  to  Him. 


't^^ 


93 


THE  SCRIPTURAL  PLACE  OF 
GOOD  WORKS* 


IT  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  because 
salvation  cannot  be  merited  by  good  works, 
the  instructed  Christian  does  not  believe  in 
them.  The  same  apostle  who  wrote  "  This  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 
tha":  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners;  of  whom  I  am  chief"  (1  Tim.  i.  15), 
also  penned  another  "faithful  saying"  in  Titus 
iii.  8:  "This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  these 
things  I  will  that  thou  affirm  constantly,  that 
they  which  have  believed  in  God  might  be  care- 
ful to  maintain  good  works.  These  things  are 
good  rnd  profitable  unto  men."  No  one  insists 
more  earnestly  than  he  on  the  absolute  worth- 
lessness  of  good  works  as  a  procuring-cause  of 
justification.  On  the  other  hand,  he  is  behind 
none  in  pressing  the  necessity  of  good  works 
upon  those  already  saved.  The  Christian,  he 
declares,  is  "created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good 
works,  which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we 
should  walk  in  them  "  (Eph.  ii.  10).  Notice  the 
preposition— "created  .  . .  onto"  (not  by  means 
of)  "good  works."    Right  living  springs  from 


94 


The  only  two  Religfions* 


new  birth.  When  born  of  God,  a  life  is  commu- 
nicated that  is  divine  and  eternal.  This  life  is 
manifested  in  obedience. 


t  ; 


"  I  would  not  work  my  soul  to  save ; 
For  that  my  Lord  has  done. 
But  I  would  work  like  any  slave, 
For  love  to  God's  dear  Son." 


I- 


]t 


l 


If  this  be  not  the  motive,  there  can  be  but 
"dead  works."  The  only  true  good  works  are 
the  frvit  of  the  new  life,  springing  from  affection 
for  Him  who  has  said,  "  If  a  man  love  Me,  he 
will  keep  My  words." 

Has  the  reader  given  up  all  pretension  to  hu- 
man merit  ?  Has  he  ceased  to  look  for  blessing 
on  the  ground  of  his  own  righteousness?  This 
is  repentance :  to  own  oneself  lost  and  guilty, 
deserving  of  naught  but  judgment.  If  such  is 
the  ground  you  have  taken,  do  you  now  trust 
alone  in  Him  whose  precious  blood  was  shed  to 
atone  for  all  your  black  and  dreadful  sins  ?  Oh, 
be  assured,  if  such  is  the  case,  that  all  your  guilt 
is  forever  put  away.  "To  Him  give  all  the 
prophets  witness,  that  through  His  name  who- 
soever believeth  in  Him  shall  receive  remission 
of  sins"  (Acts  x.  43).  There  can  be  no  uncer- 
tainty about  it.  Every  believer  has  been  eter- 
nally forgiven,  because  of  what  the  Lord  Jesus 
accomplished,  when  He  died  to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  Himself. 


The  Scriptural  place  of  Good  Works.   95 

If  thus  able  to  rejoice  in  present,  perfect  justifi- 
cation by  pure  grace,  you  are  now  free  to  devote 
your  life  to  good  works,  and  thus  to  evidence 
the  gratitude  of  your  heart  to  Him  whose  lov- 
ing-kindness has  brought  you  into  blessing  so 
wondrous.  But  your  works  will  be  the  obedi- 
ence of  a  child  to  a  Father,  not  the  toil  of  a  serv- 
ant seeking  to  win  th<:  favor  of  a  master.  Ow- 
ing all  to  Him  who  has  redeemed  you,  your  walk 
and  ways  in  this  world  will  testify  that  your 
heart  is  true  to  the  One  whose  grace  has 
saved. 

So  may  it  be  with  reader  and  writer  till  called 
into  His  own  blessed  presence  I 


Ira^Qvi^&TJ 


UMZIAUX  ■NOTHCm,  M  FOURTH  AVINUI,   NCW  VOMb 


